


the journey is more important than the destination

by moonbabe



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged Up, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Coming of Age, Festivals, I CANNOT BELIEVE THATS AN ACTUAL TAG I CAN USE. ANYWAY, I think., M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Third Person, Slow Build, Trains, crosscountry travel, everyone is a mythical creature!, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-01-04 09:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18340427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonbabe/pseuds/moonbabe
Summary: It's a tradition for everyone to take a grand journey across the continent at 18. Kei, an elf, is no exception. He travels from kingdom to kingdom, from city to city, enjoying a festival one week and a coronation the next. On his way, he meets a half-harpy with a penchant for trouble, an oni prince who just needed out, two werecats -- one with hair that defies gravity and another who barely leaves the house--, a wereowl with the biggest grin Kei has ever seen, and a fae whos as quiet as a mouse.Together they take a trip to many, many places filled to the brim with adventure and whimsy. And maybe, just maybe, they'll find love, too.





	1. it begins.

**Author's Note:**

> helloooo ao3! i havent posted Anything at all recently, so please take this fic based off of a thought i had while i was sick with the flu
> 
> this wont be very ship based until the 5th or even 6th chapter so please bare with me! the idea itself was originally just an au and then my grimey little shipping brain's hands got hold of it and didnt let go 
> 
> im a lil rusty (writing is.... a process) so im totally gonna make like simple slip ups. also, this is unbeta'd. we die like men

Sun filtered through Kei’s windows, highlighting all the dust flurries as they slowly made their way to the floor. The room was still and quiet, save for Kei’s soft breathes and the tick of his analog clock. Pillows flanked Kei’s still body, keeping him warm in the chill of late September. His blankets, however,  were kicked to the side. They were roused in the lull between wake and rest but forgotten in his deep slumber.

The growing chill in his bare legs began to wake him. His eyes fluttered open with disdain, his long ears twitching in response. Grumbling, he pushed himself into an upright position, leg still crumpled and cramped beneath the other. He pulled them closer to conserve warmth. The bed creaked as he pulled his sheets back over him with a huff. He really should’ve worn something more than shorts and a t-shirt.

He flopped into his pillow once more, but sleep refused to take him back.

“Of course,” he grumbled to no one in particular.

Blindly, he patted his bedside table for his glasses and phone.

His fingers met the cool metal frame of his glasses and he gripped them in his hands. He pushed them onto his face with anything but grace and turned onto his side to face the rest of his now sparsely decorated room.

Shelves with books ranging from textbook to fiction lined his walls. Most were missing, leaving large sections of caved-in hardcovers and slumping paperbacks. The walls were a yellowed white, pockmarked by past pushpins. Boxes lined empty walls, all marked with a room. All of the ones in here had “bedroom” scrawled upon it in black Sharpie.

His desk was the busiest thing in the room, cluttered with travel papers and pens. Several books had been left open on the floor. His bag was half open, its contents half strewn about the floor. Kei’s eyes trailed lazily across all this mess before falling to the floor next to him.

He eyed his phone on the floor. It had fallen in his sleep but was, thankfully, still plugged in. Inching closer to the edge of his bed, Kei’s fingers scraped the top veneer of the hardwood floors beneath him.

After some more failed efforts and a grunt of dismay, his phone was finally in his possession. Success.

His mouth twitched at the coldness of the glass but turned on the phone anyway. The shining leaves of Frute -- the great tree that protected the city -- greeted him, though only in picture form. He scanned the lock screen before zoning in on the several missed calls, the time, and the date.

It was 1:08 PM on September the 27, his birthday. All the missed calls were from Tadashi, his childhood friend.

The events from the night before began flooding back to him again. The packing, the many slightly panicked calls from his brother and Tadashi, going over all the travel documents and renewing his IDs. Oh, _shit_. _He was late._

Panic rose in his throat as he scrambled to get out of bed, hissing at the cool floor until he could use dirty clothes as stepping stones. He tore off his bedclothes and tossed them into his laundry basket (which was completely empty, but he still ended up missing it) and threw on something at least a little smart. Dark green pants? Sure. Black turtleneck? He’ll take it. Why not add a heavy black coat and a scarf while you're at it, too.

He scrambled to slip on his oxford boots without smashing his face into the corner of his desk -- he should _really_ think about finding a better place to store shoes -- before reaching into the tangle of sheets on his bed to retrieve his phone.

After patting around for cool metal for far too long, Kei found his phone. He shoved it into his pocket before going to look at the mess of his bag and travel papers. Grimacing, he knelt down and picked up the bag by its strap, careful to tip it back so nothing else would fall out. He collected the notebooks and stationery in a pile before dumping it into the mossy green canvas bag.

Kei, despite his mind telling him it would be _so much easier if he just got up_ , hobbled over to his desk. The bag dragged on the floor, books clumping up in front of it until he lifted it up just enough to pass over them. He hastily shoved whatever paper he thought was relevant, as well as anything with that small picture of himself that most important documents wanted -- even if it wasn’t an ID; just to be safe -- before rising to his full height again.

Time check. 1:27. Shit. _Shit_. _Very late_.

Kei just about stomped through the floors of his apartment trying to make it to the door. He was 18, a legal adult, and he _still_ managed to almost miss the most important journey of his entire life.

  


The run over was unpleasant, to say the least. He hadn’t run like that since high school, and even then he did more jumping than running. As he neared the large train station, Kei could see the faint outline of Tadashi and Akiteru. Tadashi was jogging in place -- is trying to get himself warmer? -- and his brother was frantically looking about. Both were framed by a large brick arch and many, _many_ people.

“Probably looking for me,” he muttered. He picked up the pace, his bag swinging in the wind. His body was screaming bloody murder at this point, but the train was going to be here before he knew it and he could just _not miss it._

No one would be able to let him live it down -- the guy who was always on schedule and organized as a first-year deteriorated into this?

Kei dodged past gaggles of girls -- all elves, all annoyingly spread out across that section of the street for no discernible reason-- and businessmen, embraced lovers and crying parents. God. Keep it in till you got out of the public eye, please.

Akiteru must’ve gotten sight of him, because he began to wave and the echoes of a yell could be heard. Tadashi looked over to see what all the ruckus was about before joining in as well. He grimaced -- why all the public attention? They know he hates that -- before pushing past a manticore with the wildest mane he’s ever seen.

Seconds later, Kei’s hands were firmly planted against the brick arch and panting heavily. His bag hung from only his shoulder, swaying from momentum. Akiteru was yammering on about alarms and being late, but he could barely hear him over the thundering of his own heart.

“...an’t believe you were almost late for your train, Tsukki!” Kei looked up to Tadashi's cheeky, shit-eating grin and mustered up a halfhearted sneer.

“Shut up.”

Akiteru was broken from his brotherly ranting and stifled a laugh. Tadashi huffed out a ‘Sorry, Tsukki!’ but smiled all the way through it. Kei pushed himself off the wall and decided to ignore the sweat pooling at his temples. Living _next_ to the station and living _close_ to the station were two _very_ different things -- proven by his little bout of exercise, anyway.

“Where’s the ticket gate?”

Yamaguchi nodded to his left, at the large booth with the longest line he’s ever seen. There had to be 100s of people from all around, all looking incredibly bored and tired. There were a few screaming kids -- gross -- but for the most part, it was only businessmen and women. Their ironed pants and form-fitting pencil skirts screamed business, but the bags under their eyes screamed ‘help’. Kei looked at Yamaguchi, bewildered.

“ _That_ line?” Akiteru laughed.

“No, that one.”

He pointed to a much shorter line, one with barely 7 people in it, punctuated by a sign that said “advanced pay”. He breathed a small sigh of relief and stalked over to the line. Thank god for his parents, because if they hadn't paid so early on he would've been in that monster of a line. Tadashi and his brother were close behind, careful not to tread on someone’s tail.

The line went pretty fast, as all they needed to be given was a ticket and some forms to fill out. After only a few minutes of waiting, Kei held a large, shiny ticket in his hands. His two companion peered over his shoulder. His brother whistled.

“They really go all out for kids who have literally just turned 18, huh.”

Kei ignored the comment and stuffed the ticket into the deep pockets of his coat. He patted his pocket -- partly because he needed to do something with his hands, partly because he was feeling it for his phone; it was a habit. He blew out a shaky breath and released the tension in his shoulders.

“Please don’t remind me.”

His brother chuckled and clapped him on the back.

“Welcome to the adult world, little bro!” Tadashi smiled wide, giving him the thumbs up. He won't be smiling like that in a few months, the November baby bastard. 

A train whistle rung out from one of the deeper caverns of the train station. Kei flicked his eyes up to meet the giant sign that hung from the ceiling. It’s bright red letters said ‘JUST ARRIVED: TRAIN 485’ before it scrolled away to make room for news. He fished out the ticket he had just deposited into his pocket and checked the train number.

485.

“That’s my train.” Akiteru frowned.

“Really? I figured it would have come later.” He checked his wrist watch, his eyes widening. “It is _much_ later than I thought it was. C’mon then, off you go.” Akiteru pat Kei on the back, motioning for him to walk. Kei fumbled over his words before finally forming a sentence.

“Is that all? No real send-off or…?” He could feel sweat forming at his temples again. His nerves from the night before had made a grand re-entrance and he did _not_ like it. His ears began to twitch.

“Thought you hated that stuff, Tsukki.” Tadashi quipped from behind him. Kei groaned.

“I mean, your right, but…” They neared the train tracks and Kei’s bag began to feel heavier with every passing second. A pit of dread was beginning to form in his stomach. It was just a trip. Yeah, it’ll take a long time. He won’t be back for a year, at least. But… that was all. He’d be back home in no time.

“Then you have nothing to worry about!” Tadashi smiled that wide smile of his and Kei couldn’t help but feel sad. If he was going to be honest… he was gonna miss Tadashi. His family, too, but he could never tell any of them. Too embarrassing.

Kei sighed.

“ … I guess.”

The train had already begun letting on passengers. Doorways big and small were wide open and train conductors lined the paved walkway. Whistles hung off their necks like medals Tall elves, some even taller than him, walked past with a grand sweep of their hair. Showoffs. A few dwarves hobbled about, their dark hair shining with found items and handcrafted jewelry. Even a griffon boarded the train, whipping their tail around and brushing past the coats of other passengers.

Kei pulled his bag closer to him.

“Are you ready?”

“Oh, God no.”

 

A chuckle, a shove, a few steps, a thinly veiled look of sadness from a best friend, and a hole-puncher later, Kei was on the train.

The hallways were narrow at best, scrunching Kei’s long, lanky form into only a fraction of what it usually was. He had entered from before the meal car, and so he passed through it with little care. He spared a few glances at the covered metal cozies full of warm food before moving on into his own car.

Doors lined the sides, the golden brass of the handle worn down from hand after hand touching and turning them. Even so, they still shined in the dull light that filtered in from the windows. Kei shrugged the bag higher up on his shoulder, careful to dodge the small child sprinting down the hall at him. He pulled the ticket out of his pocket and stared at the number on the back.

“74…”

He looked to the door next to him. 70. He peered at the other doors down the hall. Hesitantly, he walked towards the car’s end.

71.

72.

73.

“74.”

Kei forced his hands to calm themselves by shoving them into his pockets. He grimaced. He knew that he was supposed to have roommates -- it was too expensive to reserve the whole room for himself, which was regrettable -- and he hoped to anything that might lay in the sky that they weren’t rowdy. Or loud. He’d like to sleep at least a little bit on this trip, even if it _was_ just to the next country over.

Kei retracted one hand from its warm place in his pocket to touch the doorknob. The rooms were all sound proof, so he didn’t even know if there was anyone in there.

Slowly, painfully so, Kei turned the doorknob and swung the door wide open. Or, rather, as far as it would go.

Inside were two boys, one with wild orange hair and the other who was slightly shorter than him while both were around the same age as him, practically wrestling over… something. It was currently in the taller boys hand, so he couldn’t see. It was circular, with a tin foil wrapping. Could it be…

“Is that... chocolate?”

Both boys looked over towards him. The orange haired boy, now that he could get a good look at him, had a baby-ish face with freckles that covered his whole face. His hair was sticking up into so many directions at once, he didn’t know whether to laugh or question everything he knew about physics. Small orange feathers were starting to sprout from the other corner of his eye and his cheeks. His eyes were a striking amber and his face was formed into what could only be described as an indignant expression.

The taller boy was no better. His body was contorted it something painful, his arm outstretched away from the shorter boy who had scrambled on top of him. His back was pushed against the armrest closest to the large window that let you see outside and into the train station. His silky hair was all in his eyes, covering them only slightly. A horn sprung from the top of his head.

“Yes!” came a squawk of a reply from the shorter one. And then he went back to… whatever he was doing. Kei looked up at the overhead storage to see that two other luggages besides his own were there.

“Goddamnit.”

And on that day, surrounded by the sounds of struggle and then the triumphant scream of stolen chocolate, Kei learned that God was a cruel, cruel man.


	2. train ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei enjoys (?) the company of his new train-mates.

Apparently, the two were named Shouyou and Tobio, and the piece of candy was the last of what Shouyou had brought. Both were on their continent-wide trip as well, Shouyou having just started earlier that that year while Tobio had been on it for longer. Just his luck. 

“The k- I mean, my father said that I could set out early.”

… was his explanation.

It wasn’t uncommon for other countries to set out there best and brightest early so they could get them back as soon as possible. Damn prodigies.

By now, the elven countryside was racing past them. The tall trees that stalked across the land that he used to be surrounded by were now going by too quickly to see them properly. Kei was careful not to look too long, lest he have a breakdown in front of a bunch of strangers.

“What about you, huh? Huh?” Shouyou bounced in his seat, a bright smile on his face. Tobio moved closer to the train’s walls looking almost painfully uncomfortable. Kei could understand.

“Today’s my birthday.” He gestured to the scenery outside the window with a nod of his head.

“And I live here.” He frowned. “Well. _Lived_ , I guess, with all things considered.” He waved his hands, trying to formulate the rest of the thought before giving up. “Y’know.”

Shouyou gasped and Tobio directed his attention to the window.

“Happy birthday!” Shouyou said, practically yelling. His cheek feathers fluffed up, making him look even more like a big obnoxious sun. Kei leaned back a bit, as if an extra inch of space was going to help him escape the ball of noise that was Shouyou.

“Thanks.” Shouyou nudged Tobio with his elbow, who didn’t look too happy to be brought back into the conversation.

“C’mon, say happy birthday!” Tobio glanced at Shouyou and then to Kei before muttering something under his breath that only vaguely sounded like ‘happy birthday.’ Shouyou huffed, obviously annoyed.

“It’s fine.” Kei looked at Tobio for a few fleeting moments before redirecting his attention to Shouyou.

“I’m not one for birthdays, anyway. Today’s no different.”

“But this one’s special! You’re starting this whole grand journey, and you’re supposed to have lots of fun! I heard that’s it’s lasted for years for some people, and that they’ve made lifelong friends and even met their soulmates!”

Kei resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the last part. Yeah, you can find friends anywhere. Traveling makes it no different, especially in this world. But soulmates? Those just don’t exist.

“Well. That’s nice.” Kei settled on a short response. He hoped the downward point of his ears didn’t give him away.

“Oh, yeah! Where are you going next?” Tobio perked up, despite him having redirected his attention to the window once more. Guess you can’t help being curious.

“That’s… a good question.” Kei rummaged around in his bag before finding the paper with his schedule. It was crumpled and ripped at the edges. Kei quickly scanned his messily scrawled notes before looking back up at Shouyou, who was sitting as still as possible -- which was to say, not at all.

“Ki-taida.”

Shouyou cheered. Tobio flinched.

“That’s great! We’re going there too! That’s where Tobio’s from.” He pointed a short finger at Tobio, who looked at ot as if it was the barrel of a gun. “See! You can tell by his horn, y’know. Oni are Ki-taida natives. I think that most of them are, like, royalty.”

Shouyou began to imitate Tobio, shaping his hands to look like a horn at the top of his head. Kei looked over to Tobio for confirmation, who was practically sweating bullets at this point.

“Y-yeah, travelling Oni are usually royalty. But! Not, not me. My, uh, parents are letting us stay at the. The house.”

Kei nodded. He was oddly nervous for someone returning home. You would expect him to be more excited, at least.

“Are you going to stay there? Like, are you moving back in?” Tobio shook his head.

“I’m just… stopping by because it’s on the way to the next country over. They’d, uh, have my head if I didn’t visit.”

His parents are _totally_ telling him to move back in.

“I see.”

Shouyou gasped.

“Hey, you should stay with us! It’ll be fun, y’know.” Kei fought back a frown. He was originally going to stay with one of Akiteru’s friend, but…

“I don’t really think that’s an offer you have the power to extend.” Kei looked over to Tobio who only shrugged.

“I don’t mind. It’s not my house anymore, and my parents always like it when I bring people on my own volition.”

He had no idea that Tobio knew such a big word.

“Well, regardless. I already have a place to stay, so I’ll have to decline.” Shouyou, apparently not one to waste time, immediately began to whine.

“But _Kei_!”

Kei peeled of his jacket and folded it over a few times before placing it beside him, choosing to ignore whatever was going to fall out of Shouyou’s mouth. His ears heard Shouyou begin to cry over Kei’s refusal but his brain refused to pay attention. He patted down the pocket before producing his phone, warm from the jacket’s constant contact. He turned it on to see three message -- two from Akiteru and one from Yamaguchi.

_heeeeey._

_text me when you get settled._

Kei knitted his brows.

_I’m settled. What do you want._

He exited out of his conversation with his brother and went to Tadashi's.

_i hope the ride is o.k.! text me when u get to ki-taida tsukki_

Kei began typing out a response, but thought against it. He only said to text when he got to Ki-taida. So he’ll wait.

Kei turned off his phone after a few minutes of fiddling with his headphones. He glanced up to Shouyou, who had somehow managed to rile Tobio up again, before slipping on his headphones and leaning back into the plush train chair.

He stared up at the ceiling, tracing all the little groves and patterns in it with his eyes. There were even some curious brown stains -- coffee? -- that made Kei a _bit_ worried about the cleanliness of the rest of the train.

And as his thoughts began to settle, and the steady rock of the train began to comfort him, Kei was lulled into a shallow sleep that turned into a deep slumber.

 

Kei was rudely awakened by two sets of eyes peering into the depths of his soul and just generally being _way_ too up into his personal space.

“Hey.” Tobio said, as if he _wasn’t_ inches from Kei’s face.

“Hey. Please stand at least a foot away from me before I deck both of you in the face.”

Shouyou took several steps back and hid behind Tobio, who had made a swift retreat as well. Shouyou’s feathers were all fluffed up again -- did those things have any logic to them? Kei slipped his headphones off and stretched his arms high above his head. He let the headphones fall to his neck and stood up, checking the time -- it was 3:45, _God_ he slept for a long time and he could _totally_ feel it in his neck -- then stuffing his phone into his back pocket.

“Is it safe to assume it’s not dinner time?”

Shouyou nodded carefully, still cowering behind Tobio.

“But you’re hungry. And you want me to come.”

Shouyou glanced up at Tobio before nodding again. Tobio nodded vigorously.

Kei grabbed the cabin door and pushed it open, walking out into the hallway and feeling all too cramped like before.

“Well. Let’s go then.”

Kei began to walk -- well, attempted to walk -- down the narrow hall. The sounds of a struggle echoed his movements before evening out into uniform steps with the occasional quip. It didn’t take them long to reach the food car. The smell of lunch was no longer as strong as it once was, but the faint aroma of white meat and fresh vegetables was still there.

Behind him, he could hear Shouyou perk up to the smell. He was making all sorts of… _nonsensical_ noises.

“Gwaaah! It smells so good!”

Stuff like that.

Kei himself was only a bit peckish, despite not having anything to eat at all within the last few hours. The cabin was empty, save for the bustling of the train crew in the corner. One of the women looked up to him and smiled. He nodded his head and took a seat at the desk closest to the hallway. Shouyou and Tobio made a beeline to the food carts. They took several plates -- at least 2 each, Kei refused to properly count -- before making their way to the table.

Kei flagged down the lady who had smiled at him before and asked her to make some coffee for him, if it wasn’t too much trouble, thank you. She nodded and busied herself with the water pot while the other boys were getting food. She came over with a large cup of black coffee not 4 minutes later, and so he nursed the warm drink in his hands for most of the time.

Shouyou immediately dug into his food as soon as he was settled into his seat, sending bits of lettuce and whatnot across the table. He would occasionally stop shoving whatever he could into his mouth to take a swig of water and then go right back into filling his stomach. Tobio was better, but only by a little. He managed to wipe the food off his face, but he ate just as fast as Shouyou did.

“Oi, clean your face at least.”

Tobio grabbed Shouyou’s face and wiped it down with a napkin. Shouyou whined all the way through, but didn’t bother moving away. Kei cocked his head to the side.

“Have you two known each other for long?”

Shouyou and Tobio looked up at him simultaneously.

“Nope! We met at the last stop.” Shouyou chirped, a smile gracing his face. Tobio nodded, then went back to wiping the stray splatters of ketchup in Shouyou’s face feathers.

Kei hummed and took a sip of his coffee. They were awfully close for people who supposedly _just_ met. He shook his head, as if that was going to clear his thoughts, and pulled forward a small plate of cookies that he had grabbed after his coffee had arrived. He chose one at random -- the checkered one was closest -- and took a small bite of it.

He slipped his phone out of his pocket and turned it on, seeing he had an unread message from his brother.

_does a guy have to have a reason to check up on his lil bro???_

_Yes, actually. It’s unnerving when you text for no reason._

_boooooo. well i was just checking up on u to see how the trip was goin is all_

_It’s… fine. My bunkmates are eccentric but I was able to sleep. I should be arriving at Ki-taida by dinner at least, so I don’t have to spend much more time with them. I think._

_whadaya mean ‘i think’? they stalkin u or somethin??_

_No, but we have similar schedule plans._

_oooooooh. well play nice, ok?? ill be here if u need me._

_I know._

Kei turned off his phone and set it face down on the table. Shouyou and Tobio were now chatting among themselves, choosing to not pay attention to him. It was a welcome change, at least. He sat back and drank his coffee until only the grounds were left.

 

When the trio returned to their cabin, they all ended up falling asleep. Maybe it was something about all the food they ate, or the warmth of the heater pushing a pleasant gust of air into the room, but it all resulted in closed eyes and still bodies.

Tobio’s head lolled to the side, his horn tapping the window with every jolt of the train. Shouyou was small enough to curl up on the padded seat. He mumbled about birds every now and again. Kei slept upright again, his headphones on and his arms crossed.

They ended up sleeping through dinner, only roused by the scream of the whistle and the announcement on the overhead speakers.

“We have officially arrived in Ki-taida. Please retrieve your bags from the overhead compartments and make your way to an exit. Thank you for traveling with us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *ki-taida is just a remixed ver of Kitagawa Daichi/Kitadai. i just moved around the i and where the word was stressed  
> *ive never been on a train so i envisioned the train from murder on the orient express and the hogwarts train. those rnt the seem to be the most accurate portrayals so sorry if smth doesnt make sense!
> 
> in other news, im not sure when ill be able to get chaps out. hopefully weekly fri/sat/sun, but i have school so who knows :/  
> anyway, thank you for your continued interest! iwaioi will appear next chapter! pls stay tuned!


	3. idiots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peace is disrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK I KNOW I SAID. THAT IWAIOI WAS THIS CHAP BUT I FORGOT TO COVER KEIS LIVIN SITUATION AnD TIMES N SHIT IN MY OUTLINE>... IM SORRY I LIED IWAIOI HAS TO WAIT>

Kei welcomed his train journeys end. As he neared the open doors, a cool breeze rushed past him. He pulled his scarf tighter around his neck. He kept his strides long, though, not wanting to be caught by the idiot duo. They were still in the cabin, bickering over… whatever one could bicker about. Like an old couple. 

Kei’s luggage wheels clacked over the raised polka dots on the ramp that led down into the train station. He passed the yellow line and then stopped, craning his back as far as it could go. He could feel a few satisfying pops release all the tension in his body. He moved on. 

It was far more busy here than in his city. There weren’t as many foreigners as he thought there would be, but he certainly didn’t feel like an outsider. He was only slightly taller than the general populace. He topped out at 6’3, where everyone else seemed to be just 6’. 

The train station was much like his own thanks to building standards, so it was easy to navigate through to humming masses and to the exit. He was just about to reach the doors.

“Heeeeey! Kei!”

He was so close.

“Don’t yell so loud, runt!”

So, so close.

The tap, tap, tap of light but quick footsteps followed him, then stopped right at his back. Heavier ones followed suit. Kei turned around and was met with the faces of the two he tried so hard to leave behind. Well, not  _ hard  _ hard. An effort was still made, though. 

“Oh, fancy meeting you here. Anyway, gotta go. Bye.”

Kei pushed past the doors, his steps to the tune of Hinata’s squawks. God, his harpy really does come out when he’s stressed, huh. Cool air rushed past his face and sent his short curls flying as he exited the building. If the train station was busy, then the streets were even worse. Horns honked, cars screamed, and the gruff voices of yelling men filled the evening air. Kei dug around in his pocket for the directions to the house of Akiteru’s friend.

In that time, Shouyou and Tobio had caught up to him. Both of them had disheveled hair -- it was harder to tell with Shouyou, his bedhead seemingly ever-present -- and were panting hard. Each had a rolling luggage. Shouyou’s was covered in stickers of all sorts and was beaten up at the edges. Tobio’s looked pretty expensive, sporting the logo of a big company. How in the world he got that, Kei may never know.

Kei looked back at them, crumpled paper in hand.

The idiot duo just stared back.

“Well, if you’re not gonna say anything…”

_ Take a left. _

Kei looked down the street to his left, to the duo -- who was still catching their breath -- and then back down the street. He began to walk.

“Whuf-wh-wait!”

“No.”

Just keep walking.

“What Tobio said!”

“I already said no.”

Their voices… they weren’t getting farther away. They were… following him.

Kei turned around, his eyebrows screwed together and his mouth in a thin line. Shouyou let out something of a squeak before hiding behind Tobio. Was that his go to move already?

“What do you want?”

Shouyou peaked out from behind Tobio who, despite standing his ground, looked mildly constipated at best.

“We just wanna see if you wanted to like… hang out tomorrow…”

“Oi, don’t lump me into that.  _ You’re _ the one who went runnin’ after the guy.”

“Yeah, but you followed!” Shouyou looked up to Tobio, his face feathers fanned out and his cheeks an annoyed, rosy red. Kei sighed.

“If all you two are going to do is bicker, then I’ll be on my way again.”

Before Kei could take another step, something latched onto his upper back and bony feathered limbs caught him by the throat. Kei stepped back, trying to lean forward to keep his balance. 

“Just waaaaaaaait!”

Shouyou’s loud, high pitched voice rang out from above his head. Wings flapped ad feathers rained down to the ground. He could hear Tobio sputtering behind him. If he was Tobio, he’d be doing that too. But he’s not. He’s Kei, and he’s being choked out by a harpy that’s no more than 5’5.

Kei clutched at the hands that clung to his neck. Shouyou’s fingernails were more like talons, and they dug into his skin. That’ll leave a mark.

“Finefinefinej-just  _ let go _ I can’t  _ breathe--” _

And just like that, the lump on his back was removed. Rather, it jumped off and landed squarely on its feet.

Kei lurched forward, his hands around his neck. Now he was the one gasping, trying to take in air like he had been drowning and he had finally bobbed to the surface. He looked back at Shouyou who had a smug look on his face, like he had just taken down a monster. 

“What…. do you  _ want _ .”

“Your phone number!” Shouyou gave him a much unneeded thumbs up. Like that was going to magically make this all better.

“Just that.  _ J-just _ that.”

“Mhmm!”

“Oh my  _ god _ are you an absolute  _ idiot. _ ”

 

After Shouyou -- that damn  _ bastard  _ \-- and Tobio traded numbers with Kei, they let him go on his merry way. Shouyou smiled and waved as they retreated, Tobio just about dragging him by the collar. 

So much for a quiet ending to his train journey. 

Kei slipped on his headphones and proceeded to blast whatever was currently on shuffle to keep the city noises out, even if it was just a little bit. 

_ Pass the convenience store. Take a left after the playground. _

Kei did as the paper said. 

The store was very similar to the ones at home and it brought him a small ounce of comfort. The windows lined with posters -- handmade missing items posters mingled with contests for big companies-- the dimly lit lights with moths bumping into the lamp covers, and even the telltale signs of young life -- bikes lined up on the pavement, candy wrappers and empty bottles that littered only a small portion of the sidewalk.

Kei kept walking.

The playground was small but colorful. It was empty save for the echoes of the swingsets swaying in the wind. It was… sort of creepy. Playgrounds were usually filled with small kids and doting parents with snacks and bandaids. But here, where winter was beginning it’s long trek through the continent, it was empty -- yet not at all still.

Kei kept walking.

_ The house plate should say  _ Tanaka.

Kei peered into the dark street and took a deep breath. As he neared each new house, he would squint at the name plate until he ended up at ‘Tanaka.’

“The lights are on at least.”

Kei pressed a hesitant index finger into the doorbell at the gate. No voice. There was, however, movement inside the house. Not a minute later did a head of bright blonde hair -- definitely not natural like his -- and long ears poke out of the house and into the cool September air. 

“Oh! You must be Aki’s kid. Hold up.” The blonde went back into the house, but left the door open.  
… Aki?

A muffled ‘ _ put some pants on, you two!’  _ erupted from the door and Kei jumped. The blonde came back, and this time she fully left the house. She jogged over to the gate -- though she really could’ve just walked the short distance between the gate and the house -- and unlocked it with a swift hand. 

“C’mon in. I’m Saeko, but you can call me Big Sis.” She smiled and started to walk back into the house. Kei pushed the gate open, dragged his luggage past it, and then closed it. It clicked, and he began to walk away.

“No offense, but I’ll stick to Saeko.” Saeko huffed out a laugh.

“He really wasn’t kidding when he said you were a snarky one.”

“Excuse me?”

Saeko turned her head and raised her eyebrows before stepping past the door’s threshold. Kei frowned before making his way into the house.

“What the  _ fuck _ ?”

Kei is surprised he didn’t pass out right then and there.

The first thing he saw was the naked back of a bald guy who could only be a few years older than him. He, too, had the common markings of an elf. Long ears was the first thing. But his back had small scales sprouting from it, like Shouyou and his feathers. The next thing saw was the much shorter guy beside him with the oddest streaks of blond hair he had the displeasure of seeing. It was also gelled to high heaven, which made him look only a little taller than he actually was. Was that the point?

Either  _ way, he  _ was basically naked. God knows why. Actually, scratch that. Not even God knows what the hell was going on.

And then he saw the empty beer bottles rolling around on the floor. And the stacks of playing cards on the table. And the absolutely fucked up situation he had just entered got  _ that  _ much worse. 

Now, maybe 25 minutes later, he was sitting in front of a much more… clothed pair of drunks and Saeko. She was still all smiles. Somehow. 

“Sorry ‘bout that. These two are lightweights.”

“I’m… certain that’s not the biggest problem on hand at the moment.”

“Oh, yeah! Introductions. Mr. Buttnaked Thunderstreaks is Yuu, but you can call him Noya if you want. Baldie is my lil’ bro, Ryuu. Noya, Ryuu, this is Kei. Aki’s lil bro. He’s on his trip right now!”

“That… was  _ not _ what I was talking about. But yes, my name is Kei.”

Yuu -- or, Noya -- gasped dramatically. 

“Woooooow! I can’t believe your, like, younger than me. Didjya hear that Ryuu? He’s only 8!”

“I think you mean, uh, 18, man.”

“Oh yeaah. 8 totally sounds right though, right?”

Kei looked at Saeko with what he hoped was pleading eyes. Thankfully, she understood.

“Alright you two. Y’all are drunk and Kei is here, so it’s time to go to bed. Y’all better not be whiny babies tomorrow morning.”

“We woooon’t!”

What is with today’s duos and being goddamn idiots?

Saeko herded the two upstairs and left Kei to survey the mess they had left behind. 

There was the booze and the cards, obviously. He could only guess that they decided to do strip poker. The T.V. was still on, too. Two controllers had to be somewhere in the room, but he couldn’t find them. Getting sick of the smell of beer, Kei left his luggage in the room and decided to wander around the downstairs instead. 

The kitchen, for some reason, was absolutely wrecked. The remains of what had to be dinner was strewn about. Specks of rice were on the table, a chopstick was at his feet, and dishes were piled up at the sink. Gross.

The next room was the bathroom. He took a peek, and it seemed to be the cleanest room so far. He had that, at least. 

The last room was the guest room -- where he would stay. It had barely any decoration, and it seemed to be more of a storage room than anything else. 

“‘gain, sorry ‘bout that.” Saeko was down the hall, at the foot of the stairs. 

“I’d say ‘don’t worry about it’, but I’d be lying.”

Saeko chuckled and walked over. 

“Well, at least you’re honest. As you can see, this’ll be your room. You don’t have much luggage, presumably?”

Kei shook his head.

“Nope. Just my clothes and this bag, actually.” Saeko scoffed. 

“Light packer. You’re gonna regret that when it gets colder. ‘Specially here. Well, your not actually staying here long are you?”

“This is just a pit stop. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible.” Saeko nodded. 

“Well, you’re welcome to whatever’s here. Just don’t get spooked when one of the boys comes down for midnight snacks. They look pretty ghostly. Mostly Noya, he might be cool and all but seeing a guy as small as him at 1AM? Not ideal.”

Kei had nothing to add, so he just nodded. 

“Well, it’s getting late so…” Saeko clapped her hands together. 

“Oh, yeah! I’m the first room on the left upstairs if you need anything. Night!”

And like a storm, she was gone.

 

Kei flopped down the the too-small bed and sighed, pulling a hand over his face. 

“This…” He was too tired to finish his sentence, and instead opted to take off his glasses. He folded them and set them on the side table. He patted down the tabletop till he found his phone. He needed to text back Tadashi.

_ The trip sucked and I hated it. _

_ it cant have been that bad! _

_ Today alone I have met 4 different idiots. I was forced to be friends with two and I have to be in the same living space as the other ones.  _

_ :-((( they rnt idiots if you think less tsukki _

_ I’m pretty sure that’s not how that works. _

_ trust me it worked with u! _

_ Good night. _

_ tsukki!!!!!!! it ws a joke!!! _

_ tsukki _

_ tsukki _

_ tsukki _

_ :-( _

_ good night ;-( _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u for your continued interest! also whyd yall not tell me my last end note thing was weird and disjointed. yall  
> anyway, im trying to keep chapters at a 2k max! if i included iwaioi (which would be the next day) it would be about an extra ~1.5k... so! is that good? bad? pls let me know if i should make chaps longer or shorter!
> 
> pls leave me a kudo if u like my work!! kudos and hits encourage me to keep writing this! thank u!!!!


	4. royalty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei goes on a mini adventure.

Saeko might have warned him of the hungry, wandering souls at midnight but that didn't stop him from being woken up. 

He was first roused by the pad of footsteps against hardwood. Then came to groaning and the almost eerie noises that he couldn’t quite place. Lifting himself up with a groan, Kei decided that the best course of action was to investigate -- even if the real answer was to just go back to sleep, because my God it was 2:30AM and he was being forced to hang out with Shouyou and Tobio. He should probably just blow it off. 

Kei hissed when his feet met the cold floor. He should really start going to bed with socks, even if they  _ do  _ end up coming off in the middle of the night. He walked as quietly as he could over to the door and swung it open, careful not to hit his foot with it. He poked his head out to survey the pitch black hallway. Nothing. 

Slipping past the doorway, Kei made his way into the kitchen. A soft glow was splayed out on the floor, dodged only by the shadows of dishes and kitchenware. The closer he got, the louder the groaning got. 

“ … Excuse me?”

The ghastly face of a small man and damp, drooping hair looked back at him. 

“Muuuuuuh.”

“Ok. Goodbye.”

Kei made a quick escape from the kitchen, not bothering to look back. He could only guess that was Yuu, all that hair of his being a telltale sign. Kei closed the door and flopped down onto the bed. 

“I hate this.”

And with that single thought, Kei quickly fell back into the sweet arms of sleep.

 

“Are you sure you have everything?”

“You aren’t my mother, Saeko.”

“Well I’m the best you’re going to get here!”

Kei shrugged his bag up higher on his shoulder and fought back a frown. 

“I don’t need a babysitter. I  _ am  _ 18.” Saeko smirked and put her hands on her hips.

“Yeah, but Aki told me to take care of you! So that’s what I’m doing.”

Yuu and Ryuu were still sleeping despite it being 12PM already -- that’s probably for the best -- so Kei was able to set out without much noise. Well, save for Saeko. He had gotten a hurried text from Shouyou that morning, telling him to meet him at the foot of the castle. Why at the castle his didn’t bother asking. 

The castle itself was at the center of the city. Kei already had Maps pulled up on his phone. It would take only 10 minutes on the bus system, but he decided the extra 10 to explore the city would be fine. 

“Off I go.”

Kei slipped on his shoes, supporting himself with one hand on the wall. Once both were on, he looked back at Saeko and bowed his head slightly. 

“I should be back by dark. My train to Aelurus is an early one so I might be gone before you wake up.”

Saeko gave him a thumbs up.

“Sure! Feel free to take whatever food you wanna when you leave.”

And with that, Kei left the house. The gate creaked when he closed it. They should really oil that. He looked down at his phone, the blue line of the route big and bold against the white background of the map. 

“So… go back to the train station.”

Kei retraced his steps, passing the convenience store and the playground on his way. The playground was a bit fuller but definitely less creepy. The light reflected off the fluorescent colored equipment. The wind was quieter, too. 

The store was practically the same. The trash from the night before was still on the ground -- leading Kei to believe that the trash might have been there for longer than he thought. A man was smoking on the front step. He couldn’t be any older than 30, with long blonde hair swept back with a headband that revealed the unbleached undercut beneath. He had earrings, too. A dirty apron with the store’s logo laid beside him. He nodded to Kei, who nodded back before quickening his pace. 

Scary.

Soon, he was at the train station again. He peered inside the hive-like structure. Same as yesterday. Kei turned his back to the station and stared out into the street. 

“It’s telling me to go right into traffic.”

“Well that doesn’t sound too smart, now does it?”

Kei whipped his head around to face the source of the voice. He was met with an  _ annoyingly _ attractive face and  _ perfectly _ styled hair on top of a  _ very _ well armored body. 

“Who are you and  _ why  _ are you standing next to me?”

The man flipped his hair -- bastard -- and put a hand on his hip, just above his sword. His chest plate was filigreed, the center proudly displaying the emblem of the city. The only parts of his body he could clearly see was his inner arms and the gaps between the pieces of armor. 

“I’m just your local knight taking in the city sights.” He smiled sickly sweet. 

“He’s wrong and you should probably walk away while you can.” Another man came running up to them, also in the same armor as the first man.

“C’mon Iwa-chan! Let me have fuuuun!” The other man was tan, with spiky black hair. He had assorted scars cover his face, including the largest one going over his nose. He was more muscular than the first man. 

“Yeah, not if your ‘fun’ includes harassing ordinary civilians, Tooru.” The other man frowned and knit his brows. 

The first man, Tooru, quickly backtracked.

“Well, ok, fine, but he needs help so bothering him is ok!” Kei sneered.

“I never asked for help.” 

“You look lost.”

“I know exactly where I’m going.”

“Which is…?” Tooru leaned over Kei’s shoulder to see his phone screen, becoming  _ way  _ too close for comfort. Hell, he was worse than the train idiots.

“ ….The castle?”

Tooru’s face lit up. He looked to the other man with what could only be described as puppy dog eyes. He looked at Tooru for a beat before finally giving out. 

“Fine, fine. Let’s at least properly introduce ourselves.”

“Of course!”

Tooru walked over to where the other man was standing and faced Kei.

“My name is Tooru Oikawa, but you can call me whatever you want!” He gestured to the other man. “And this is Iwa-chan.” 

“My real name is Hajime Iwaizumi. Please don’t call me Iwa-chan.”  
“My name is Kei. Nice to meet you, Dumbass and Hajime.”

“Hey!” Tooru puffed up his cheeks in annoyance. Hajime struggled to keep in a laugh, just barely managing to turn it into a fake cough.

“Well, should we get going?”

 

If you ignored the people, the city was gorgeous. 

The streets were wide, but always chock full of people. Almost every building had a terrace, and every few blocks two families would be mingling within them. Food carts lined the sidewalks, and once you got into the shopping district closer to the heart of the city, handcrafters would pop up, too. 

Tooru was babbling about all sorts of things while the went. He would point out landmarks and say this or that, often resulting in Hajime threatening to pummel him if he spoke another word. 

They got followed by gaggles of girls a few times, too. It was almost always because of Tooru, but there were a few times where it was for Hajime. Those were the times where he felt like ditching them the most. 

“So, what brings you to our lovely little city of Ki-taida?”

They had taken a rest stop in front a small store. Hajime had bought them all water bottles. Kei’s sat next to him, half drained, while Tooru held his in one hand, uncapped. Hajime had finished his as soon as he had gotten outside, much to Kei’s awe and disgust. 

“One, this city is anything but ‘small’. Two, my trip.”

Tooru hummed as he sucked down the last of his water bottle. Monsters, those two. Hajime kept up the conversation. 

“You’re from Frute, right?” Kei raised an eyebrow. 

“How did you know?”

Hajime gestured to his ears. Ah. 

“Almost forgot that these aren’t so, ah, common here.” Kei wished he had longer hair or a hat or  _ something,  _ because he could feel his ears burning. 

“We get enough travelers from you guys, so it’s not as rare as in places like Kotech.”

“Oooh, is that the country that’s all closed up? With all the walls and whatnot?” Oikawa finally piped up, a crushed water bottle by his hand on the concrete. Hajime nodded. 

“They’re pretty protective of God knows what. But hey, guess that means they’re doing their job well.”

Kei stuck his water bottle into his bag and got up from his seat on the steps. 

“Shall we go?”

 

They finally arrived at the castle, albeit much later than his originally estimated arrival time. 

The front was crowded with people taking pictures and meeting up. Kei felt much more intimidated, too, because they were all about his height. And he thought that  _ elves _ had the tallest average height. 

“Well, we’re here!” Despite the many people around them, Tooru’s annoying voice still rung out loud and clear. Hajime was right beside him, his head swiveling around wildly. Like he was looking for something. Tooru turned to Kei and smiled. 

“Looks like my guard dog of a boyfriend has caught wind of something. Sorry to leave so soon, but it seems I  _ really  _ have to go. Tell us when you need another escort, ok?”

Kei was too confused to say anything before Tooru whispered in Hajime’s ear and dissipated into the crowd like smoke. Kei stood alone for a few seconds before realizing that he was here to meet up with Shouyou and Tobio. Kei pushed his way to the edge of the crowds, against the walls of the shops and other buildings. 

Carefully, as to not drop it in the rock and sway of the crowd, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. 

_ Hey, where are you two? _

Kei locked his phone and let himself fall against the brick of the wall behind him. He began to close his eyes until he heard an ear piercing screech travel across the crowd.

“KEEEI!”

He snapped up immediately, searching for the source of the noise. His eyes landed on a blob of orange against the brilliant white of a marble arch just outside the castle.  _ Ah, shit.  _

Shoving his phone into his bag, Kei shoved his way into the crowd once more. He ignored the peeved grunts and the annoyed huffs until he got to the front of the area: the gate. 

Shouyou was easier to see now, and the tall man behind him was definitely Tobio. Shouyou waved excitedly, beckoning him to come closer. Kei pulled his bag closer to him as he made his way forward to where they were standing. Tobio refused to look at him, instead focusing his gaze onto the ground. 

“Why’d you take so loooong? We were here for a while!” Shouyou jumped up and down, stomping out all his anger, apparently. 

“I got… caught up. Sorry about that.” Kei technically wasn’t lying. 

“Mmm… well, you're forgiven! Let’s go to Tobio’s house!” Kei raised his eyebrow. 

“Aren’t the housing complexes back that way?” He pointed past the crowd and down the street. Shouyou shook his head and smiled wildly. 

“ _ This  _ is his house!” He waved his hand towards the glittering castle.  _ No way.  _

“Is…. is he serious? Are you really…?”

Tobio refused to look up but he nodded, and in those few movements Kei could see the red on his face. Was he… embarrassed? Angry, even? He couldn’t tell. 

He then walked up to a guard next to the gate and whispered something to him. The guard looked shocked but quickly regained posture. 

“Unlock the gate for Prince Tobio and his guests!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoooo this was a hassle to write for some reason??  
> anyway, we get to explore the castle a lil bit next chapter!  
> ill be on an out of state trip next week so i might not update again till after that!
> 
> thank you for your continued support/interest! kudos and hits give me the motivation to write!


	5. conflict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh.

The palace was far more than impressive. The baroque paneling shined and glittered in the sunlight that streamed down from the glass ceiling. Two large staircases spun up and led to a second floor. He saw more staircases up above, but they lead off to the sides of the castle and into the spires. 

Shouyou, of course, was jumping around like it was a bouncy house. 

“Gwaaah! You used to live here, Tobio? That’s amazing!” He ran up to each individual statue, each panel encrusted with jewels, every speck of light. Tobio’s jaws were clenched and his face was still red. Ok, this time it was definitely anger. 

Kei stood there awkwardly. He didn’t belong there in the least bit. At least the two idiots looked like they did. Tobio had an air of stern royalty that Kei couldn’t quite place before, but could definitely see in his home environment. That stubbornness must’ve come with it, too. His horn was immaculate and the only thing ‘wrong’ with his appearance would be that scowl of his. 

Shouyou’s hair bounced around him like a piece of the sun came down to form a halo. He could totally see him in prince’s garments; a proper military-style suit with a deep navy sash and a crown on his head. He could never trust him with anything more than a video game town, though. The whole harpy thing might be an issue, too. 

Just as Shouyou was about to drag Tobio up a staircase that led to who-knows-where when a uniform line of what seemed to be servants appeared from out of nowhere. They were both men and women, all with their hair swept back to reveal small horns. Much smaller than Tobio’s, maybe only an inch long. All had the same type of uniform, the only differences being dresses for the women and pants for the men. A well dressed man with ashy brown hair, swept back past his eyes and forming little curls at the front, was at the front of them. His horn was medium sized and sprouted from the right of his forehead. He had a sword as well -- could he be a knight?

“I see you’ve finally shown your face, Prince Tobio.” The tone was sweet, but Kei could feel the malice in those words. The man smiled sweetly as he stopped in front of the group, but it felt fake. The servants fanned out behind the man, forming a V formation with the man as the point. 

“Drop the Prince, Shigeru. You know I let go of that title when I left.”

“Didn’t stop you from appearing at the castle again, Prince Tobio.”

If it was possible for Tobio to clench his jaw any harder, he would. 

Shouyou cowered behind Kei for the first time, almost like he could feel the tension between the two. Shigeru’s hand rested on the hilt of his sword and Tobio looked like he was about to throw fists. Not the best matchup.

“Now now boys, that’s no way to greet each other hello!”

The heavy steps of armoured knights came closer and closer, finally stopping next to the group. 

“Tooru?”

The chestnut haired man turned to Kei and waved. 

“We meet again so soon! You should’ve told me you knew the Prince, I would’ve taken you with us when me left.” Hajime was came up beside him. Tooru looked to him and nodded. 

Hajime took Shigeru by the elbow and dragged him off to the side. He whispered something in his ear which caused Shigeru to grumble. He looked at Tobio and narrowed his eyes, but left the way Tooru and Hajime came anyway. 

Another knight stood at the foot of the stairwell from where they came. He had blonde hair with brown streaks that wrapped around his head. He grunted with Shigeru passed him. He followed, disappearing from sight. 

Tooru sighed but had a smile on his face. He put his hands on his hips. 

“So, would you boys like a tour?”

 

Tooru lead him around the castle. He detailed small anecdotes about Tobio as a child that made him grumble and go red. Hajime had left to alert some officials that Tobio had arrived, so they were all left in the care of the head knight. 

“Did you know Tobio used to take sword lessons with me? He stopped before he left obviously, but he’s really good at it.” Tooru smiled, but it seemed to falter. “He’s a prodigy.”

They sat in one of the many sitting rooms scattered around the left wing of the castle. The large bay window faced a large garden. It had bushes and, supposedly, all sorts of flowers. They were all dead, of course, it being September and all. 

“Prodigy or not, he’s still an asshole.” 

Tooru choked out a laugh, almost spilling the small amount that was left of his tea -- again, monster. Shouyou cackled freely, managing to squeeze an agreement. Tobio fumed silently. 

“What? I speak the truth, Tobio. The horn isn’t doing much help either.” Kei took a sip of his tea, half hoping to start a shitshow. It is what he did best, after all. 

“Hey! The horns aren’t so bad. At least they aren’t like mine.”

Toory parted his hair to reveal 2 small horns, much like the servants they had met at the entrance. They were positioned on either side of his head and was deeply hidden by his hair. 

“I thought all oni’s horns were big!” Shouyou perked up, waving a hand above his head to symbolize height. Tooru sighed. 

“That’s a royalty-only thing, though not many foreigners know. The lower your class, the smaller your horns. You can have any amount of horns though. A past fling had 5, but there’s probably been more.” Tooru leaned back in his plush chair. The ornate legs whined against the pressure. He looked to Tobio and smirked. 

“I’m surprised no one caught you while you were in town. Hat?”

Tobio nodded. He stared into his still-full cup of tea, which was now luke-warm at best. 

“Hey,Tobio. Why  _ did  _ you come back?” Tooru leaned forward and looked out the window, propping his head up by his hand. “It’s not like you have anything here anymore. You were exiled for a reason. I’m surprised you made any friends with that kind of weight on your back.”

Wait,  _ exiled? _

“Huh? Why didn’t you tell me you were exiled, Tobio!” Shouyou’s face took on sudden annoyance at the news. He moved to grab Tobio’s arm but he shrugged him off. Hard. Shouyou went from annoyance to panic, quick. 

“Quit it,” he muttered lowly. Uh oh. 

Tobio looked up to Tooru and they locked eyes. 

“Do you really care about what I’m doing here?” Tobio asked, his mouth a straight line. 

“Of course I do. You were my student. But so was he. Wouldn’t  _ you _ like to know what happened to the survivor if you were me?”

… Survivor?

“Fine.” Tobio straightened his back and set his arms on the table. Shouyou shrinked back, holding the hand that Tobio evaded. Kei was slowly beginning to realize that he  _ probably _ shouldn’t have agreed to go on this little field trip with them. If Tobio did what he thinks he did… 

“Father wanted me to come. I don’t know why. I met them on the train --” he pointed at Kei and the still-frightened Shouyou, “-- and… regardless of whether I’m an asshole or not, they agreed to stick with me. I wouldn’t blame them if they decided to ditch me though.” He eyed the two warily. 

Tooru frowned just as the door opened. The blonde knight -- he kind of looked like a bee -- poked his head in. 

“King wants ya’. You too, Prince.”

Tooru quickly put on a smile and turned to the knight at the door. 

“Thank you, Kyouken!”

“Don’t call me that.”

The knight frowned and closed the door, cutting off any possible response from Tooru.

Tooru turned back to them and got up from his seat. He gathered the empty cups and set them on the platter left by the maid. He left the room, not bothering to wait for the others. Tobio followed suit, his steps heavy. The only people left in the room was a nervous Shouyou and Kei. 

Now, Kei was not good at talking to most people politely, let alone comfort one. But he looked at Shouyou and saw a boy scared out of his wits. Even if he  _ was  _ annoying, he wasn’t all that insufferable. And so Kei made the rare decision to try and help. Emphasis on try. 

“Hey…” Kei put a hesitant hand on Shouyou’s shoulder. No response. 

“Shouyou?” Still no response. 

“Hey, are you alright?’

“I think I’m gonna…”

“Gonna… what.”

Shouyou leaned over the arm of the chair and let the contents of his stomach empty.

 

Kei can’t say he wasn’t disgusted. But he tried to set aside his disgust for Shouyou, at least.

Several maids had rushed in after he shouted down the hall for one. They all went to work cleaning immediately, except for one. She guided a weak Shouyou down to the health wing -- does this place have everything?

Kei was allowed to follow. So now here he was, sitting across from Shouyou’s bed. He had fallen asleep as soon as he hit the bed.

“Guess he was holding it in for as long as he could,” he said, to no one. Kei looked around the stark white room. It was the plainest room in the building from what he could tell. It lacked the heavily garnished walls and the paintings that popped up every few feet. There was a mid-sized window, but it was half covered by a white curtain. Faint light streamed through what was exposed. It was getting late. He heard a mumble and looked to Shouyou, who had rolled to the other side of the bed. Must talk in his sleep.

Careful not to wake him, Kei rose from the chair he was seated in moved to the window. He stared out into a lush forest filled with evergreens. This must be the back of the castle. He stared for a minute longer before going to check his phone. He hadn’t checked it in awhile for… obvious reasons. 

_ Unknown number _ ? He hadn’t given his phone number to very many people lately. Wait. Unless….  

_ whr r u _

_ Before I answer that, who are you? _

_ it tobio _

_ whr ru _

_ I’d expect you to type better for a Prince, you know.  _

_ We’re in the… health? Wing? Whatever you call it here. Shouyou threw up.  _

_ M COMIJ _

Kei’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t reply. He locked his phone, slipping it into his pocket and returning to his seat. Shouyou continued to mumble this and that, but otherwise there was nothing else to be worried about. Kei slid down in his chair and closed his eyes. 

 

This entire trip so far, Kei has been nothing but awoken by means other than an alarm clock. 

Kei’s immediate reaction was to jump up and yell at whoever slammed the door open so roughly, but then he saw Shouyou jump up on Tobio and lost all his will to fight.

Though he was an asshole, Tobio obviously cared for Shouyou. Kei couldn’t fault him for that.

“I thought Tooru was gonna kill you!” Shouyou exclaimed loudly. He was clutching Tobio’s face with both hands, their foreheads pressed together. Shouyou’s feathers still looked a bit wilty, but otherwise he looked normal. His wings were open slightly and were twitching. They had been left uncovered just in case something went wrong. 

Tobio knitted his eyebrows. 

“Like I’d let him.” Shouyou was quiet for a beat before letting out a soft giggle. His wings opened all the way and his feathers shook, like a bird shaking off water droplets. Tobio had a slight smile on his lips that he tried to hide as he wrangled Shouyou off his person. Shouyou protested, but he let it happen anyway. 

“Not to interfere with this sweet little moment of whatever, but what happened with you?”

Kei had one hand on his hip. Yeah, it was rude. Whatever. It definitely wasn’t because he was jealous. No way. He was just curious.

Tobio looked to Kei and scratched his head. 

“It’s…. It’s complicated.” 

“What, can’t get your one brain cell to figure it out?” Shouyou held back a laugh, but otherwise stayed quiet as Tobio fumbled over his words. 

“Well… my dad wants me to take over the throne. But I don’t want to. So I just told Tooru to do it.”

“…And?”

“He agreed. So. Tooru is going to become king.” Tobio continued to scratch his head. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. 

“What?!” Shouyou looked up at Tobio. He grasped the sides of Tobio’s shirt and got on his toe, as if that would make him tall enough to seem even a little more menacing. 

“Why would you pass up the chance to be king? That seems so cool!”

Tobio swayed back at the sudden movement, but he kept his balance. 

“It’s a lot of work. And I hated all the studies I had to do. The only thing I really liked doing was sparring. And… you know how that went.” Tobio managed to choke out the latter half of the sentence. 

“And, besides. I’d rather travel with you.”

Kei fully felt like he was intruding by just standing there at this point. And so he clapped his hands to grab the attention of the idiot duo. 

“Anyway! Let’s go, hmm?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, no update after this one. for real this time  
> this was also a real bitch to write and i dont know Why. but we finally get to meet some very important someones next chapter which im pretty excited to write!  
> note! removed the bokuaka tag since it isnt a focus ship and will be pretty lowkey. also, havent introduced them yet!
> 
> thank you for sticking around! and, of course, kudos are super super appreciated!


	6. departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio leaves the castle.

In the trio’s speedy escape from an all too-white room, they managed to get themselves lost. It wasn’t the hardest thing in the world, no, but it was certainly one of the dumbest. 

For one, Tobio had lived there for long enough to remember the halls like the back of his hand. But… he didn’t. He stared down a hall and proudly announced, “I have no clue where we are.” 

Dumbass.

The other problem was Hinata, or the intermittent lack thereof. Every so often he would get left behind for some reason or another -- most of the time it was because he just  _ stopped _ whenever he felt like it -- and it would take at least 10 minutes to find him again. 

Kei ended up flagging down a passing knight. He was in training gear -- no metal armour, but leather instead. He was much shorter than Kei and darker than the rest of the people that he had seen inside the castle walls. 

“Excuse me, not to be a bother but -- oy, be quiet -- but where is the exit?” Shouyou and Tobio flailed behind him, arguing about this and that. The knight peered past him, his eyes widening when he saw Tobio. He quickly cleared his throat and looked back up at Kei.

“Uh, yes, right this way.”

The knight plastered on a smile and headed down the hallway to their left. Kei looked back and Shouyou and Tobio, who were still arguing but following regardless. Whether they were just seeing him in their periphery or if they were actually paying attention, he couldn’t tell. 

“This is actually the back exit us knights take, but I think you guys can be the exception.” The knight was quiet but polite. He had close cut hair -- like Saeko’s little brother -- and his hor was medium sized. It almost sat on the back of his head, on the top but inched closer back than forward. His hand had been rested on his sword the entire time and Kei resisted asking if that was something that all knights did -- literally every knight so far had done so. He wouldn’t risk getting on their bad sides, they all seemed constantly ready to fight. 

Somewhere down the line the hallways went from shiny baroque to weathered cobblestone. The floors no longer had gold thread and instead was simply decorated with a long red rug. Shouyou and Tobio had, for the most part, ceased their squabbling in favor of keeping up with Kei and the knight. 

Soon, the only light source in the hall was fire. Small balls of it hung mid-air inside small alcoves that were dug out of the walls. The knight caught Kei staring at them.

“The royal wizard made those. He’s very smart, albeit a bit low-energy. Unlike the rest of the team.” The shorter man chuckled to himself. Kei hummed in acknowledgement. 

Though it wasn’t uncommon for kingdoms to have royal wizards, he’s never met one. At some point in life, his mother was really hoping for him to be one. Set him up with an apprenticeship and everything. He was adequate but nothing special, so it went nowhere. 

“Is he an elf?” Kei spared a look at the knight, but he didn’t look back. 

“Oh, no. Pure oni like the rest of us on castle staff. He often wears a hood so you don’t see his horn, so many people just assume he is, though.” 

Kei kept quiet. He forgot that most people outside of his hometown only saw magically inclined elves around, and that it wasn’t as common to be well versed in ancient words than people thought. 

The hallway slowly widened till they reached a large wooden door. It had iron decorations nailed into it. It displayed a legion of knights, all with horns and intricate armour. The knight pulled out a large iron key and stuck it into the heart of the knight closest to the front of the marching iron men. 

He turned the key. Kei could hear all the gears and mechanisms on the other side of the door loud and clear, despite the door being seemingly thick as an old oak trunk. Shouyou let out what Kei presumed were sounds of awe as the knight pulled hard on the large handle and opened the door. 

A lush training ground courtyard lay on the other side. The lush scent of grass hit Kei like a train, and immediately he was reminded of home. Other knights -- most in the same gear as the knight that had accompanied them down -- spared in the middle of the grassy space. An open-air cobblestone hallway surrounded the area. Each section of wall was lined with a new kind of weapon. Old fashioned axes with gold flaked hilts, high caliber guns with stacks of ammunition, small serrated knives that glinted even in the shadows -- everything. 

Shouyou and Tobio rushed forward. There was a glint in Tobio’s eye; it was warm and knowing and  _ excited.  _ Kei eyed Tobio’s clenched palm and how it almost seemed to shake ever so slightly. Shouyou, on the other hand, wasn’t hiding his excitement in the least bit. His wings fluttered with adrenaline and his eyes were wide, like golden disks swimming in an amber sea. 

Kei was impressed, but the idiot duo seemed two steps away from pissing themselves in excitement. 

The knight next to Kei scratched his head and laughed. 

“Their almost like a bunch of dogs, huh?”

“ _ Exactly  _ like a bunch of dogs. God, that means I’m their baby-sitter.”

Kei’s somewhat snide remark illiceted another laugh from the knight before he stepped foot into the corridor. A few heads turned his way, but all of them welcomed him back by voice. 

“Shinji, my man. Welcome back.”

“Local bladie returns from the war: more at 11.”

“Hey.”

The knight -- Shinji -- returned each call with a smile, wave, and a nod at the trio he had just brought in. Kei glanced around before zeroing in on the door on the opposite side of the one he was currently standing in front of. With his head down -- just in case someone decided to call out to him -- Kei made his way to the other door. 

But because God was cruel, Shouyou and Tobio did not follow like he thought they would. 

Instead, they veered off into the weapons corridor. Shouyou threatened to knock down everything with every involuntary flap of his wings. Tobio seemed like he was somewhere else -- somewhere in his memories. Every so often he would graze his fingertips against a blade and wince, like he had been cut. But no blood ran. 

Kei looked up and narrowed his eyes. A few loitering knights eyed him territorially as he did so, as if they could smell a storm beginning to brew. 

However, it was one of their own to start it before Kei could open his mouth.

“How  _ dare _ you show up here of all places?”

It was the man from the castle lobby. Sweat trailed down his temples, matting his hair and making him shine. He had a broadsword in his right hand. It twitched. Like it was a snake about to strike. 

Tobio leaned back, obviously fighting back a sneer. Shouyou was a few feet away. His feathers bristled. He hands clenched and unclenched, like he was ready to throw fists.  _ Oh no they didn’t. _

“Put your sword down, Shigeru.”

He never got to do anything in this damn castle, huh.

Hajime had walked through the door -- alone, no Tooru in sight. He had shed his heavy armour so his full stature was no longer swamped by metal. He was shorter than Kei, but his muscles made up for it. He had scars covering the full length of the arms and what Kei could see of his chest. They was a thick one that laid terribly close to his neck. 

Shigeru took one look at Hajime and dropped his word. It clattered, the sound of metal hitting stone echoing out into the now empty courtyard. He took one more look at Tobio before rushing past Hajime and back into the castle. The knight from before -- the bumblebee looking one -- dropped the rag he was using to clean his sword. He shoved it back into its sheath and chased after Shigeru. Low mutters arose after the two left. 

Shouyou inched closer to Tobio. Looks like his fear of the denizens of this place had passed after his little incident. He was noticeably more calm, but his feathers were still raised slightly. 

“You three should probably leave.” 

Kei didn’t need to be told twice. Kei nodded to Hajime -- he hoped he could see the thank you on his lips -- and grabbed Tobio and Shouyou by the backs of their shirts. Both protested, but Kei gathered all his limited strength and dragged them out of the area and into the hallway that lead outside the castle.

 

They parted once the got to the main street. 

Tobio crashed at Shouyou’s hotel room, which was admittedly not very surprising. They left -- bickering all the while -- and Kei let out a heavy sigh. He slumped forward, his phone in his hands. Saeko and Tadashi basically blew up it up, 20 odd messages each. All horribly typed. Kei could barely decipher them all, really. 

In the end, Kei got lost twice and went all the way around in a circle once. The man from earlier that morning told him the directions to Saeko’s house, albeit a bit gruffly. Kei bowed his head and hurried on his way, clutching his bag strap the entire time.  He didn’t even need to ring the doorbell -- Ryu and Yuu were sitting on the doorstep. Yuu ambushed him -- did he always greet someone ‘hello’ by jumping on their back? -- and Ryu chortled at his demise. His ears were much shorter than his sisters, but his teeth were long and sharp. Kei wondered if he ate steaks whole. 

Saeko ended up yelling at Yuu to release Kei from his impish claws, which he obeyed without question. She came out just in time, too, because the guy was trying to steal the glasses right off Kei’s nose.  Kei lugged his lanky body that was heavy with fatigue through the creaky gate and into the house. The two slightly older boys were rowdy, but they seemed to tone it down for him. He couldn’t tell -- everything was loud and all too bright for his tastes at the moment -- but he appreciated it if they were. 

He raided the fridge first. It was surprisingly well stocked, despite there being at least 2 people in the house -- and 2 who seem to eat too much at once -- at any given time. so he grabbed a can of tea and leftovers from dinner and stole away into his borrowed room. There must have been some kind of sour look on his face, because Saeko took one look at him and turned right around.

At least he could eat in peace. 

 

Kei wasn’t sure when he dozed off, but he was awoken by the loud scream of his phone’s default alarm. His mouth tasted like death and the bags under his eyes were dark as hell, but he got up and packed everything he had left laying around away -- save for a change of clothes. 

Aelurus -- his next stop -- was supposed to be warmer this time of year, so he packed his heavy coat and brought out a lighter jacket he had forced upon him by his brother. It was a custom letterman jacket; gold thread spelled out “Tsukishima” and the number 11 on the back. It was dark green and white, the colors of his high school. He shrugged it on over his plain white T-shirt and stared at himself in the mirror. It certainly made his legs look much skinnier than they were, it being baggy and wider than he thought. Maybe he needs to put a few pounds on. 

Kei did one last once-over of the room before closing the door as quietly as he could. It was 5:30AM, and so far there were so signs of life.

Well, in the house at least.

_ hey . heyhey he y hey _

_ What is it, Shouyou? _

_ didnt yo say your were going to aleurus _

_ Disregarding your horrible typing, yes. I did. Why? _

_ Men tobis are also giong! wow we shuld travel  togetehr agaiN! _

_ Does… does autocorrect not work on your phone? _

_ wel> what do you say letztravel together again _

_ I… fine. Whatever. You better not be late to the train station. _

Kei shut off his phone and stuffed it into the pocket of his jacket -- which was deeper than he thought, because his whole hand fit in there as well. A pleasant surprise. Maybe his brother did know him well after all. 

Kei opted to carry his luggage rather than risk waking up the rest of the house by rolling it around. Quietly, he went out the door and into the cool September air. He was only here for a day and a half but it felt like he was there for a week at least. A lot happened yesterday. Too much, even. He needed to ask Tobio a few things, too. 

He took one last look at the house before setting down his luggage and locking the door with the spare key in the mailbox. He dropped it back inside and grabbed the handle of his luggage, rolling it down the driveway and onto the sidewalk. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i intended for this to be a full time skip chapter and then i wanted to write more half baked conflict so i pushed it as far as it could go  
> i keep saying im gonna do stuff and then i change my mind >:-( i should stop doing that huh  
> anyway thank you for waiting basically a week for a new chapter! as always, kudos r appreciated and keep me a writin'!


	7. hunger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei leaves the cabin.

Kei had the oddest, yet strongest feeling of dejavu he’s ever had.

He walked in on almost an identical scene to what he had seen on that fateful -- albeit hasty and a bit annoying -- first train ride of his. Shouyou was grasping at Tobio’s clothes, pushing himself as close to his outstretched hand as he could. Tobio’s mouth was half a grin, half a frown as he waved his hand farther from Shouyou. Except instead of chocolate, it was half a pastry. Not even worth the trouble, in his opinion. Shouyou’s wings flapped in frustration.

“Give it! I bought that for myself!” He grunted, trying to vault himself up closer to Tobio’s hand. He could probably just use the wings he keeps flapping to help him, to be honest.

“Yeah, but you ate all the rest already!” The whining continued.

Kei decided to ignore them -- it was just _too_ early for this. He took his seat with a groan, peeling off his jacket in the heat of the train car.

They really cranked the heat in the later months, much to Kei’s discontent; it was almost too much his slight coldbloodedness. It was probably going to be the same thing in the summer months, too. Maybe he should read up on temperature spells. Having his own little regulated bubble of perfect temperature homeostasis was very, very appealing.

His train of thought, however, was derailed as he was asleep almost as soon as he peeled away his jacket layer and folded it up on the cracked leather seat. The idiot duo really didn’t pay him much mind -- thank God for that at least -- as they were too preoccupied with the golden brown puff in Tobio’s hands. Last he saw, Shouyou aimed for Tobio’s hand with his mouth, completely getting rid of the idea to use his hands alone.

He was conscious enough to put on his headphones and crank the volume on his jazz. Chet Baker lulled him into a nice, deep sleep.

 

The sun was finally up when he rose. It shone through the segmented window, the thin curtains doing nothing to stop the rays from hitting Kei right in the eyes.He re-positioned himself so he was sitting properly and shielded his eyes from the sun.

The chatter of the other riders was starting to seep into the cabin through the hallway -- the walls in this train must be thinner. Children pounded up and down the strip of rugged wood; train attendants barely dodged them and parents rushed to keep up with their little tyrants.

He could totally see Tobio and Shouyou being those kinds of little kids. Hell, they were _still_ those kinds of kids.

Kei yawned and stretched his previously folded up limbs. They ached from being folded for hours on end. Shouyou and Tobio finally conked out -- Shouyou’s head laid on Tobio’s shoulder. His face feathers twitched in his sleep. Both were covered with stray flakes of puff pastry. He hated to say it, but it was pretty cute. He snapped a pic as blackmail.

Just then, as if on command, a twang of hunger reverberated through Kei’s stomach. Kei looked down at his torso and frowned. He guessed it had been more than 10 hours without feeding it, if he counted sleeping. He probably should’ve eaten a little something before he left the house.

He looked to the door and grumbled something about hurting joints before pushing himself off the chair and leaving the cabin.

The hallway itself wasn’t crowded, and was wider than on the last train he had been on. Attendants nodded at him as he passed. He pulled out his phone to check the time. It wasn’t even noon yet. He came up to one of the attendants, bowing his head slightly.

“Is breakfast still available?” She nodded and he half whispered a low ‘thank you’ before making his way to the food train.

This time, his and the duo’s cabin wasn’t just a car over, so he had time to peek into the other cabins and enjoy the scenery rushing past him in the windows. He passed through a little sitting area -- complete with lamps, a bookshelf with a variety of genres to choose from, tables and chairs, and even plugs for all sorts of electronics. It was charming -- he might have to take the time to escape here later.

He picked up his speed once he caught wind of the faint scent of bacon and grilled cheese. It was just one sliding door away. With the promise of a filling meal ahead, he pressed on. However, he was too preoccupied with the alluring scent of food to notice the figure trying to slip past him.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

The man was slightly shorter than him, but his _god awful_ hair seemed to make him just as tall if not taller. His ears weren’t long, but they were perky and pointed -- not an elf. Sharp, ochre eyes stared at him through a sheet of black hair and reading glasses.

His face was conventionally attractive -- pretty eyes, sharp cheekbones, dark hair and height--, but… his style of dress was decidedly _not_.

He had on a graphic T-shirt proudly displaying the “periodic table of Minecraft”. It was baggy, but the arm holes stretched to make room for the muscle beneath. His pants were pajamas, sprinkled with ugly little pictures of DNA molecules.

They looked a lot like Clippy, with large cartoonish eyes that bespoke no soul underneath. It was… a shitty pair of pants to say the least.

“No probs.” The man’s voice wasn’t deep, but it had a pleasant tone that seemed a tad bit musical. Not what Kei was expecting, but it wasn’t a bad thing.

He looked shocked and… _scared_? He couldn’t tell. The man raised his hand in a wave and Kei caught sight of his long, sharp nails before the man made a hurried retreat back to the other train compartment. Kei was stunned, but not for long as the smell of bacon coaxed him into returning to his previous quest.

He was usually a neat eater, but the spirit of Shouyou must have taken over him by the time he took a seat. He grabbed small portions of pretty much everything -- bacon, eggs, toast with butter, even a parfait -- and ended up finishing it all. He drained a cup and a half of coffee, making him feel a lot more energized but also far more antsy. He had to do _something_ , be it reading, sorting through his laptop files, whatever.

He sat for a few minutes, letting himself rest and his stomach react to it’s food. He answered Tadashi’s texts -- _whats the train like this time? where r u going next??_ \-- while he waited. He filled his cup with -- decaffeinated -- tea and made his way back to the cabin.

He paid no mind to the hot mess that was sitting in the little library area, and he paid no mind to his friends -- one with hair like a mountain side or maybe even a horned owl, and one with a distinct aura of calmness -- no matter how much his brain wanted him to. He did decided, however, that he was going to spend his newfound energy reading and writing.

He had a few projects he wanted to catch up on, anyway.

Shouyou and Tobio were still asleep when he came back, so he grabbed his bag as quickly and as quietly as he could -- without spilling his tea, which he almost did twice. He should’ve asked for some kind of to-go cup. His headphones were back on now, Bill Evans’ piano flowing into his ears at a potentially harmful decibel level. He slipped the strap on his shoulder -- no need to put it on properly if it was just coming off sooner rather than later -- and embarked on his journey once more.

The attendants no longer greeted them, having seen him only minutes before. He didn't mind. He actually preferred it -- he didn’t have to deal with unnecessary interaction. He took sips of his tea as he went, and switched hands when it got too hot for that hand to handle.

He reached the library area faster than before; or, rather, that’s what it felt like.

Nothing had changed, save for maybe the amount of dirty dishes that were now gone from the tables in use. He spared a glance at the table with Mr. Minecraft, Mt. Hooters, and Mom before choosing to slide into the chair diagonal of them. The desk was nice and spacious. It had charging ports built into the table top and side, as well as a lamp. There was a basket for pens, but only two were in it.

Kei dropped his bag onto the ground beside him and set his teacup onto a coaster, vaguely aware of the stares he was getting from the other table. Mom’s back was to him, but Mt. Hooters and Mr. Minecraft were, more or less, facing him. He pulled out his laptop and planned on ignoring them for as long as he could. He could not, and would not, deal with anymore annoying little children today. He logged in, pulled up a few Doc tabs, and went to work.

It was maybe… 5 minutes before that sentiment was completely and utterly destroyed. He could feel someone coming up to him, their steps light but still heavy enough for him to feel. They slide the chair opposite of his out from underneath the table and sat in it. He felt the reverberations of the stacks of paper and books they brought along being dropped onto the table with a heavy thump. He brushed past legs that seemed as long as his when he moved to sit up straighter.

Keep ignoring them.

He could feel ochre eyes bore holes into his head as he typed. His headphones blocked out more of the noise, but he could hear the snickers from the other table and the admonishing ‘be quiet!’.

_Keep. Ignoring. Them._

The last straw was when he saw one long, shiny nail creeping up into his peripheral vision. It tapped along the wood table, pushed past his pencil pouch, and set itself up on the side of his keyboard. Kei looked up to see the man from earlier, smirking wide and full of hubris. Sharp canines gleamed in the light of the lamp. Kei resisted the urge to smack his hand right then and there and go back to work.

He calmly removed his headphones and laid them neatly on the table. He unlocked his phone to pause the music, then looked up at the man. He was still stretched across the table, his finger still on his laptop.

Damn it all.

“If this is about earlier, my apology was sincere.”

The man rose and leaned back in his seat. The old wood creaked.

“Oh, no, I don’t care about that.” He waved his as if to dismiss Kei’s statement. Kei reflected the man’s posture, leaning back and folding his hands in his lap. Eyes from across the way were turned to him, he could tell.

“Then what would this be about then, hmm? Looking for someone to bother incessantly? I’ll have you know, I already have 2 child-like companions to deal with and I’m not looking for another one to babysit.”

He put on the fakest smile he could. Barely contained laughter burst from the other table. A quick hush and a half-hearted apology followed.  

The man slide forward and propped his head up with his arm. He smiled, his eyes narrowing.

“No, just think you’re cute. Where’re you heading next?”

Well, that was… hmm.

He was used to being hit on, just… not from guys. And certainly not on trains -- though, is it common to be hit on while you're on a train?

And it wasn’t that he didn’t… _not_ like it, but -- this guy was in a _Minecraft_ shirt, of all things. He could _not_ take his flirting seriously.

Kei, throwing caution to the wind and ignoring every red alarm in his brain, decided to humor him anyway.

“Aelurus. You?” He cocked his eyebrow and folded his arms. The man seemed to perk up at that. He looked back to his table, asking a silent question -- the response was a dead-eyed thumbs up from Mom and en enthusiastic grin from Mt. Hooters -- then looked back at Kei.

“My name is Tetsuro Kuroo. I’m 20, a werecat -- if you care about that kind of stuff --, single, and I’m a scientist focused on the conservation of wildlife across the continent. Would you mind being my date to Aelurus’ Festival of the Moon?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally. the kurotsuki content rears its head  
> i cant flirt so writing kuroo and keis interactions! might be hard! so sorry if it seems like Bad flirting ...  
> oh, and thank you for 30 kudos! i remember when i only had around 5.. my hits are also a lot more than i thought they would be! i keep comparing the stats from this to my older stuff, but also its been 3 years between then and now so like.. obvi its gonna be more so >:-( gotta stop doin that  
> anyway, as always! kudos and such are ALWAYS appreciated! the more love you guys give me, the quicker i write!


	8. talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei enjoys company.

“Uhm… no. Of course not.”

“Damn, you’re gonna make me work for it, huh! Well, worth a try, right?”

Loud laughter burst out from the other table. 

“Dawg, did you  _ really _ think that would work?” Kuroo whipped around, glaring at Mt. Hooters. 

“I dunno, maybe? You don’t know till you ask!”

Tetsuro was… correct, but he was apparently oblivious to the fact that he just asked someone out in his pajamas. On a train. To an elf on a caffeine high with an aversion to public events. Though, Kei couldn’t really blame him for not knowing the last part. They  _ did  _ just met, after all. 

Though, that might also be something against Tetsuro’s case.  

“Sucks to be you, Tetsu.” The another voice came from the other table, from Mom. Mt. Hooters snickered. 

Tetsuro grumbled some sort of reply that Kei couldn’t quite hear. He slipped his hand onto his neck and played with his pen, twirling it around his fingers.

“I can still sit here though, right?”

Kei hummed and nodded non-committedly, choosing to focus on the words in front of him. He did, however, steal a glance at Tetsuro quick enough to see a smile on his lips as he let out a puff of air and relaxed his back in the chair, pen still in hand. Kei quickly looked back down. He bit his bottom lip and flexed his fingers.  

“By the way, my name is Kei Tsukishima. Even though you didn’t ask.”

Kei  _ really _ wanted to dunk his head in a bucket of water and then not come up for air. He could feel his face warm up just a little bit, and he knew that it would be so much more noticeable on his pale skin. Tetsuro hummed, straightening his back and gripping his pen. He leaned forward and wrote down a few things without answering. Kei thought he was ignoring him.

“A rose by any other name would be just as sweet, Kei.”

“Still trying for my affections huh, Shakespeare?”

“Hey, like I said. Worth a try.”

They worked in silence for around half an hour, neither seeing a need to add to the conversation. That, or Tetsuro was trying to become more aware of Kei’s boundaries. Mom and Mt. Hooters -- he should  _ really _ ask for their names -- kept quiet, though sometimes explosive, conversation throughout. Tetsuro would sometimes pick up his phone and huff out a little laugh before typing something. Kei was curious, but he wasn’t nosy.

So he didn’t ask about it. 

 

At around noon, Shouyou and Tobio came wobbling into the cart. Kei knew it was them before they even entered, actually; the classic idiot duo squabbling was recognizable even if it was muffled by the train’s walls. He didn’t even bother looking up. He opted instead to ignore them as best he could until they realized he was there. 

“Hey! Keeeeeei! That’s where you were!”

Well that was quick. 

Kei finally looked up and took off his headphones. Tetsuro looked up from his books to look at the idiot duo, to Kei, then to the idiot duo again. 

“Are these…?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Yes.” Kei replied, keeping his voice as stone cold as possible. He turned to Shouyou and Tobio. “Glad to see you two sleeping beauties are awake.”

Shouyou puffed up, his wings fluttering a bit.

“You should’ve woken us up when you left!”

“You expect me to sacrifice my alone time for you? Besides, you two are awake now so it doesn’t matter.” Kei turned back to his work. “They’re still serving lunch in the next cart. Go at it. But don’t eat too much. I’m not becoming Shouyou’s barf bag again.”

“It’s not alone time if you-- hey!”

Tobio grunted as he dragged Shouyou along by the collar, who was not happy about being interrupted.  _ Someone _ must be hungry. Or they could read the room.

Once they’d left and their arguing had disappeared, Tetsuro let out a hearty laugh.

“You’re more like their mom than their babysitter, Kei! Also, barf bag?” 

Kei pursed his lips and huffed. “It’s only because their so incapable of taking care of themselves. God, and to imagine that both of them are legal adults.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “And yes, barf bag. It’s a long story.”

Tetsuro raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, I can’t imagine it should be since I can tell it involves Shortstack and vomit.”

Kei snickered and took a sip of his tea. It had gone cold, but tea was tea regardless of temperature. He leaned back in his seat, his cup in his hand. 

“Maybe I’ll tell you another time.” Tetsuro raised his eyebrows.

“Is my Prince allowing me to remain in his presence a tad bit longer?”

“Oh, shut up.”

There was a small pause, Kei drinking his tea and Tetsuro writing more things down. Kei couldn’t help but think he was taking notes on him.  

“So, Mr. Kei Tsukishima. What brings you to Aelurus? With human baggage in tow, no less.” Tetsuro nodded to the door to the food cart.

“Ah. Well, it was just my birthday, so…” He trailed off, preferring to take another swig of tea rather than continuing his sentence. It’s not something he had to explain; it was tradition. “And I met them on the train. Went through some shit. So now I’ve been assigned mother, apparently.”

“Oh! Happy late birthday then. Two little kids must be a hell of a birthday present, huh?” Kei half laughed, half huffed. 

“More like a birthday burden.” Kei set down his tea cup, propping his elbows up on the table top. 

“So, since you asked about me, what about you? What brings  _ you  _ to Aelurus, Mr. Scientist Man?”

“Mr. Scientist Man? Is that the best you can do?”

“Just answer my question before I decide you’re no longer worthy of my time.”

“Oh, how scary. We all know you  _ love  _ me.” Kei sneered, but it had no malice. 

“Talk about a big ego.”

“Hey!”

“He speaks the truth, bruh!” Mt. Hooters perked up, his eyes wide and wild. Gah, talk about shocking. They looked like pure gold -- lighter in hue when compared to Tetsuro’s but far brighter. Like light-bulbs. Tetsuro pursed his lips.

“Says the one who gets all sad when he can’t do something right the first time but boasts about everything he does anyway. And the one who, despite being a professional hunter, will sometimes forget how to shoot a bow until he sees an animal.”

“Keiji!”

Tetsuro barked out a round of laughter, clutching at his stomach and attempting to breathe. Kei couldn’t help but laugh, too -- it started as small chuckles but was blown into real laughter every time him and Tetsuro locked eyes. 

Mom -- Keiji -- himself was laughing too, and Mt. Hooters, apparently, couldn’t help but join in too. The staff looked on in mild discomfort, but didn’t intervene. 

They calmed down after a few moments, Tetsuro leaned over the arm of his chair and facing the other table. 

“You’re such a fuckin’ idiot, Koutaro. I don’t know how you’re still alive.”

“Damn adrenaline just keeps me goin’ Tetsuro!”

They grinned at each other. It would have been a very sweet if a two certain someones didn’t burst into the cabin with the delicacy of a rhino.

“Keiiiiii! You made frieeeeends!” Kei turned towards the feathered source of the sound. Shouyou was practically bouncing up and down the aisle, almost knocking over several items on the way. Tobio was…. Polishing his horn? He was rubbing a rag over his horn -- delicately, from what Kei could tell. A metal can with “Horn Polish” proudly displayed in navy script was in his other hand. 

No wonder it’s always so shiny. Though it was just genetics. 

“You  _ are _ aware they were here before you went to eat, right?” Kei raised an eyebrow and sipped his tea. He was almost done with it.

“I mean,  _ yeah,  _ but Tobio dragged me away before I could say anything!” He looked pointedly at Tobio, who just continued to polish his horn.

“What? I was hungry.”

Koutaro nodded -- I guess he saw it as a valid answer, even if he wasn’t part of the conversation.

“Is it so odd for me to converse with people outside of you two?”

“Yes, actually. You’re usually yelling at us.” Tobio folded the rag and stuffed it into the pocket of his athletic jacket. He capped the polish and put it in there, too. Kei scrunched his eyebrows together. 

“Man, you really are like a Prince, huh?” Tetsuro cupped his cheek with his hand lazily, a slight smile on his face. Tobio flinched, but relaxed once he realized the comment wasn’t directed at him.

“Yeah, Prince of Logic and Assholery!” Shouyou chirped, sticking his tongue out at Kei who just glared back. 

An attendant, a man this time, approached the group. He smiled politely before relaying news that they would be arriving at Aelurus in a few hours. Keiji thanked him, and the man left.

“Wow, and only yesterday we were in Kitai-da!” Shouyou raised his arms above his head and stretched, leaning back and flapping his wings. Tobio moved to the side, careful not to get hit by the bright orange plumage that was now fluttering to the floor. 

“Ah, are you three local from there?” Keiji turned around, his arm propped up on the chair backing. Kei shook his head. 

“Only Tobio is. I’m from Frute. Shouyou…?” Kei turned to Shouyou. There was never really a chance to ask about where he was from. 

“Karas!” He give a thumbs-up and a big smile. The group let out a collective ‘ahh’. Of course -- the wing and all really should’ve been a dead giveaway. 

“Aren’t you kinda, like, short for a Karas kid though?” Koutaro cocked his head to the side and Keiji lightly slapped his arm from across the table. “Kou!”

“No, it’s fine! I get that lots.” Shouyou waved his hand in a dismissive manner. “I’m a halfie. Mom’s a dwarf, so I’m pretty short! My little sister got Dad’s height though.” He put a hand to his chin and looked upward. 

“Maybe height skips a generation?”

“Oi, don’t go using all your brain cells.” Tobio slapped the back of Shouyou’s head lightly. 

And there goes the squabbling. 

Kei looked to Tetsuro who nodded solemnly -- jokingly, of course. 

“Hey, you never did answer my question.”

“Hmm?”

“About why you’re on a train to Aelurus.” Tetsuro thought for a moment before nodding. 

“Ah, yeah. I just wrapped up an excursion for work so I decided to head home. Festival was comin’ up and Ken was bothering me to come home, so here I am.”

“... Ken?” He said he was single, but … 

“Yeah! My best friend from childhood. He’s an antique store owner. Well, soon-to-be. It’s a family business and he, quote and quote, ‘has nothing else better to do’.”

Kei wasn’t sure why he was so relieved, but he couldn’t deny that he was. He willed his heart to settle a bit and swallowed. 

“Oh, how is Kenma doing?” Keiji appeared by the side of the table, one hand on the table top and the other in his pocket. Koutaro was beside him, staring at Shouyou and Tobio. Tetsuro looked up and rolled his eyes. 

“Same as ever. Told me he hasn’t taken a break at all for the past few months so I’m determined to get him out of that dusty ass shop.” Keiji nodded.

“I’m quite intrigued about this festival. We don’t have anything like it where I’m from.”

“Oh, that’s right. Fae aren’t really friendly with each other.” Keiji sighed. 

“Unfortunately.” Kei’s eyes widened a bit in shock. He was a fae?

“Oh, yes.” Ah shit. Did he say that out loud?

“No, but high stressed individuals and their thoughts tend to, ah, come to me. For lack of better terms.”

“Keiji, stop mind reading.”

“You know I can’t quite help it.”

Kei shook his head. “Just… just continue.”

Tetsuro raised an eyebrow before turning back to Keiji. 

“So, basically it’s a whole intra-werebeast celebration. It’s tradition, blah blah blah. It’s three days long. There’s the intro feast with late night parties, more parties the next day, and then an ending banquet. Lots of people do their own stuff all three days, too. Reps of all the wereclans do like, speeches and stuff? It’s pretty fun but like the rest of the week after is like, zombie-ish. Everyone’s always tired.”

Shouyou ripped himself from Tobio’s choke-hold to grasp the back of Kei’s chair, pushing him forward a bit. 

“Hey, we should go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the festival is gonna be sooo fun to write. im excite  
> ALSO IM SORRY DEAREST COMMENTER he didnt say yes but... things will happen in the next few chaps i promise  
> i would say next chapter be we ALL know that i love to drag shit out  
> deadass my outline got much longer than i had it as originally because i write too much  
> as always, please leave a kudo if you havent already! comments would also be nice, id like to hear from yall!  
> till the next chapter!


	9. clutter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arrangements are made.

Everywhere Kei looked, he could see perky animal ears and tails whipping back and forth. 

“Hey, hey! What’s with the long face?” Koutarou popped up in front of Kei, his arms raised as if he was about to dive in for a hug. Kei took a step back, cautious of the foot traffic behind him but still not wanting to be caught in the man’s painfully buff arms. 

“It’s just… lots of extra limbs I’m not used to.” Kei gestured to his head and then shrugged. “Not like I’m gonna have enough time to, anyway.”

“Yes, you are! I’m making you stay the entire time, whether you like it or not.” Tetsuro appeared beside him, a wide grin on his face. He had changed on the train -- he was no longer wearing those awful pajamas of his. He had on a dark red T-shirt with “College” scrawled across the chest in black text. His skinny jeans were ripped and a useless -- but eye-catching -- chain hung from his belt loops. Kei himself had pulled on his jacket once again. 

He slipped an arm around Kei’s shoulders and pulled him closer, pointing his free hand at the large sign that said “exit”. Kei struggled to keep his face neutral. “Now, off we go! To annoy Ken!” Koutarou hooted -- how he did it, Kei could only guess -- and mirrored Tetsuro’s gesture. Keiji frowned, lightly slapping Koutarou’s arm. 

“Don’t encourage him. Kenma doesn’t deserve this.”

Shouyou bounced around Tobio, marveling at all the new sights the train station brought him. Tobio was admonishing him, but there was a curious gleam in his eyes, too. Tetsuro began to drag Kei into the crowd by his hand, Kei almost letting go of his luggage in shock. He managed to tighten his grip before he lost his stuff in the throng of travellers. 

Tetsuro, again, pulled him close enough to whisper in his ear.

“Sorry about all the people. It gets busy the days leading up to and on the festival.” He pulled away before Kei could answer and kept trudging on. Kei looked down at his shoes. 

Maybe the festival wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

Maybe. 

They burst out of the train station after squeezing between groups of chatty college students and tired businesspeople. Keij and the rest followed close behind. Tetsuro loosened his grip on Kei before letting go completely. Kei chose to ignore those few lingering moments where his hand was loose on Kei’s hand but still present. 

Tetsuro turned around to face the group. He put his hands on his hips and surveyed them. “Have everyone?”

A disjointed, yet collective, mumble of “yes” rippled through the small group. Tetsuro nodded and hummed.

“Alright! Our travels continue!” Tetsuro turned around and beckoned the rest to follow. Shouyou cheered, running up to where Tetsuro was. Tobio yelled at him to calm down, and Keiji barely held in a sigh. 

The street itself was very wide, wider than any other road he had walked on before. Greenery lined the brick and mortar street, taking up a good amount of space. Birds fluttered around, occasionally swooping down to the ground to peck at whatever they thought was food. 

Cats and dogs prowled the street. Some disappeared behind a wall and, a few seconds later, a fully clothed human would pop out. It was… jarring. To say the very least. 

There were even a few birds that would do the same, causing Shouyou to look at them, flap his wings, and smile. Some would even smile back. And Kei hated to say it, but it was cute. 

It was surprisingly a very clean city. There was a public trash can every few steps, and garbage collection areas were well maintained from what Kei could tell. The only things that really littered the ground was shed leaves, vines, and moss. 

Older buildings would have bright bunches of moss hanging out of cracks in the mortar that held the bricks together. Vines creeped up nature and man-made items alike -- as long as it got closer to the sun, it would grow despite it being fall. 

Kei would place a palm against the trunk of a particularly large oak every so often, whenever they passed. And each time the only overwhelming feeling he got was  _ health _ . This place cared about nature. A lot. Enough to keep thing alive during September, anyway. 

After some time, they finally approached a small building with a faded hand-painted sign. Kei could only read a few fragments of it, but he guessed that it said something like “Ko’s Antique Shop”. Kei’s arm was starting to get tired from dragging around his bag. Keiji had already given his to Koutarou, and Tetsuro was handling his just fine. The idiot duo were having a contest over who held onto their luggage longer, and so far neither had given up.

Kei leaned onto the handle of his luggage as Tetsuro turned the doorknob and attempted to open it. It was stuck -- Tetsuro stood back and huffed. He grasp the doorknob again, but this time he shoved his shoulder into it with shocking force. Kei’s eyes widened slightly as the old door finally swung open to reveal a dust storm of a shop. 

To the right of the door was a glass counter. The top was covered with magazines, papers, and receipts. An old fashioned register was situated against the wall the door was on, seperate from the counter but still behind it. A pair of headphones -- still playing music if the muffled electronic noises meant anything -- laid on the counter as well. It was definitely newer tech, but it was an older model that was used often. 

“I’m comin’ in, Ken. Got guests.” Tetsuro called out into the empty shop as he stepped in. It felt like he owned the place. Kei felt like a trespasser. 

There were stairs leading down a level on the back wall. The sign above it read “more!”, pointing downward at the stairs. It was hard to see, though, because of the shelves full of old, almost ancient, books that obscured it from view. 

Tobio scraped a finger across one of the spines and was met with a fingerful of dust. Keiji and Koutarou followed Tetsuro -- who had already descended -- and left the three other upstairs. Kei ghosted his hands over old porcelain plate sets and bronze figures from years past. Tobio was flipping through the books on old weaponry, nodding occasionally and screwing up his face in concentration. Shouyou was all over the place, but he was the first to go downstairs out of all of them. 

Tobio noticed the absence of the shock of orange hair he was so used to seeing, so he set down his stack of books on a rickety old stool and followed. Kei was left alone, and he wasn’t sure if he relished the silence or if he had grown to hate it. 

He slowly made his way from the front of the shop to the back. He picked up all sorts of little trinkets and heavy objects on his way -- a music box with a little poet inside, a bronze warhorse, an athame with Hecate carved into the handle, and an empty ink well among other things. 

Kei was too busy in thoughts to hear the slow, but heavy, footsteps approaching him from behind. The pair of hands on his upper arms did, however, startle him into dropping the silver broach he was holding. Kei whipped his head around, ready to shout at whoever thought that was a good idea to do until his eyes met ochre and his words died in his throat. 

“You should come down. Ken said you could take the last guest room.” Tetsuro had his arms up and a smile on his face before moving to walk back downstairs. Kei barely registered what was happening before he realized he had grabbed the back of Tetsuro’s stupid shirt. 

“I, uh, huh. Uhm. Thank you.” Kei quickly released Tetsuro’s shirt and leaned as far back as he could without looking awkward. Tetsuro paused for a moment before smiling again. It was a sweet, soft smile. Kei’s heart pounded a tab bit harder.

“No problem. You should be thanking the man downstairs, though.” He waved before making a hasty exit down the stairs. Kei waited a beat before smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand. Pain spread through his head, but the heat was spreading faster

“I’m a fucking idiot!”

 

Kenma turned out to be very… standard. After being surrounded by weirdos for far too many days, it was refreshing to meet someone who was as fed up with the groups bullshit as Kei was.

“Kitchen’s there, bathroom’s there, spare key if you need to leave the shop is there. Me and Kuro’ll be next door.” Kenma wasn’t short, but he wasn’t tall either. He was seemingly constantly pouting, his round cheeks making him seem like a very angry kitten. Though, Kei would never  _ ever  _ say that to his face. He had on a light grey sweater and was nursing a beat-up 3DS in his hand as he gestured to the different places in the small upstairs apartment. 

Kei missed the door to it on the way in, but it was tucked in the left corner of the room. The steps were creaky and carpeted, and the very last step was so loud that Kei was afraid he would break it if he stomped down too hard. 

“Thanks Kenma! See you tomorrow!” Shouyou waved vigorously, that bright smile of his on full display. While Kei was busy embarrassing himself, Shouyou got quite attached to the slightly older boy. Their personalities seemed… incompatible, but Kenma seemed to get along with him well enough.

Kenma waved back before disappearing down the stairs. Kei picked up his luggage and made his way over to the hallway.

“What’cha doin’ Kei?” Shouyou called out to him, flapping his wings a bit.

“Going to bed. Tired.”

And so Kei closed the door to the last spare room, flopped onto the bed, and fell asleep.

 

When Kei awoke, it was no longer morning. The sun shone through the small window towards the foot of the bed. His glasses lay on his pillow, and his face had indentations from the arm frames on the sides of his head. He rubbed his eyes and rubbed the crust out of the corners. He could hear chatter from down the hall, but first things first: time to wash up.

Kei willed himself to get up from his space on the bed. He patted down his jacket pocket for his phone and left it on the nightstand. He needed to charge it later. 

The floor wasn’t as cold as he thought it would be; a pleasant surprise. The closer to the door he got, the clearer the voices from the other side got. Tobio and Shouyou were there; Shouyou’s higher pitched voice danced with Tobio’s mid-ranged one. Another voice was there, too -- it was deeper than both of them, and maybe a little sultry is Kei was being honest with himself. Kei was not being honest with himself. 

His hand hovered over the doorknob. He swallowed and steeled his nerves before pushing the door open with enough force to make a loud noise but not enough to fling it open. He waddled out of the room and made a beeline to the bathroom, fully ignoring the hearty ‘good morning!’ from Shouyou. He could distinctly hear Tetsuro’s laugh, followed by something that was probably a snarky but funny comment on how Kei wasn’t a morning person. 

He wasn’t.

Kei turned on the faucet to the highest it could go and grabbed a clean towel from the rack -- courtesy of Kenma. He held the face towel under the hot rush of water before wringing it out and tentatively putting it on his face before scrubbing. He rubbed till he felt sufficiently clean. 

He hung the towel on the rack from which it came. With the faucet still running hot water, Kei cupped his hands under it to collect as much water as he could before his hands burned. He got a substantial amount into his mouth and swished. Hopefully the heat would kill the awful taste in his mouth. 

Kei spat into the sink and took a few moments to stare at himself in the mirror. His hair was all matted and a bit of a mess. His eye-bags had grown, and it seemed like his skin had somehow gotten thinner -- if that was possible. He touched his face slightly before letting his hand drop. This trip was stupid.

Kei left the bathroom and went right back to his room to change. This time, his appearance was not met with fanfare from Shouyou, but he barely registered Tetsuro calling his name. He would have to wait. 

Kei shrugged off his jacket and tore off his shirt, instead replacing it with his favorite shirt -- a button up with a little dinosaur in the pocket -- over another white tee. He knew it was dumb, but it was a present from his best friend. What could he say.

After a beat, he decided to change his pants too -- jeans, with rolled cuffs. He put on the jacket again too; it didn’t really fit, but it was comfortable either way. 

Kei finally trudged out of his room after plugging in his phone. Tetsuro was sitting backwards in an older wooden chair, the back against the table side. Shouyou was sitting on his feet in a matching chair, while Tobio sat on the stool by the kitchen counter. He had a milk box in his hand -- when did he get that?

Tetsuro turned his head to Kei after he entered the open kitchen. 

“Mornin’ Kei.”

“Mm.”

“See! He doesn’t like talking in the mornings. Even on the train, he goes right to sleep.”

“It’s not morning anymore though?”

Kei decided to ignore all the banter in favor of the fresh pack of strawberries in the fridge. Guess they went shopping while he was out like a light. He closed the ridge and turned around to lean on it, dumping the leftover stems into the sink next to him.

“Hey, Kei. I have a question for you.”

“Shoot.”

“Did you bring any semi-formal clothes with you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its! almost! banquet time! woooo!  
> also, an athame is a ceremonial dagger used in witchcraft. i rly want one but like... i dont use knives like that  
> anyway, the comments really made me smile actually! and the fact that i finally have a bookmark! im super happy that my little au is loved by so many people  
> well, as usual! leave a kudo if you havent, it really helps to keep me going! comments, too!


	10. cloth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei and the boys go shopping.

Kei was not someone to shop for clothes very often. He found the activity boring, clunky, and they already had it all online, so why bother going to the store?

So the fact that not one, not two, but three entire idiots had dragged him out to pick out fancy clothes he was probably only going to wear once in his entire life?

Distasteful.

At least Tobio looked as uncomfortable as him. 

“So, do you want casual modern or Aelurus traditional? Which is by all accounts only comfortable if you’ve been wearing it since the tender age of, like, 6.”

Tetsuro was dragging them all around the large, fairly crowded shopping plaza. It was open air -- just a small street lined with clothing shops, no ceiling or glass covering. This allowed trees and ferns to sprout pretty much anywhere, adding to the mass amount of greenery that was already present in the other parts of the city he had seen. 

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to dress me in a fursuit.” 

“Alright Kei, that’s the third furry joke in the last hour. Do you have something to tell us?”

“Yes. I’m sick of this and I haven’t even put any clothes on.”

Shouyou huffed, putting his hands on his hips. He stopped right in front of Kei, who barely managed to stop walking before he trampled over him. 

“Just work with us! It’ll be funner if you dress up.”

“Funner isn’t a word. 

“Don’t encourage him, Tobio!” Shouyou looked up at Tobio indignantly. He just shrugged and kept walking. Kei began walking again, too, maneuvering around Shouyou. He patted him on the head as he passed him. 

“Still don’t like it.” He said, catching up to Tetsuro -- who was standing next to a well-lit storefront. He was conversing with one of the employees. He was short, with hair not unlike Kei’s, and eyes as sharp as a cat’s. He wore a beige apron that proudly displayed the store’s logo as well as several half-full pockets. More than 2 pairs of scissors hung out the top, and thread clippings covered a good part of the apron’s fabric. 

“Oh, this is Morisuke. High school friend, we played on the same volleyball team all three years. Totally took us by surprise when he decided to major in design during college.”

Morisuke shifted his weight to the other foot and put a hand to his hip. 

“You don’t have to tell them my whole life story, God.” He turned to the group and smiled warmly enough. “Hi! You can call me Yaku, by the way. Easier on the vocal cords. Is it safe to assume that Tetsuro dragged you out here for the festival?”

All of them nodded, Shouyou adding a perky ‘yes!’, seemingly as punctuation. Morisuke nodded and put his other hand to his chin. 

“Hmm. So we have… the dumbass cat-”

“Hey!”

“- an elf, a harpy, and an oni. Are the others gonna be there, too?”

“Yeah, but Ken apparently already has stuff and Akaashi has him and Koutarou covered. And I actually think Akaashi is telling the truth, unlike Ken.”

“I’ll go ahead and whip something up for Ken, too, then.”

Morisuke turned around and waved for them to follow him deeper into the store. Racks of all sorts of clothes ran up and down the inside. The major walkway lead from the front of the store to the back, branching off to the left and right -- those lead to the fitting rooms. Two large counters sat in the middle of the store, opposite of each other. 

An extremely tall man with platinum hair was fussing over something at one of the counters. Pens, pins, and scraps of fabric littered the floor around him. Thin sheets of paper with lines and markers -- probably a pattern of some sort -- had slipped off the front of the counter and now lay in the walkway. 

Morisuke leaned over and picked him up before lightly tossing them right into the tall man’s line of sight, startling him back into reality. 

“Told you to pick up after yourself, Lev.”

“I know, but this one is really hard so I have to concentrate!”

“Multitask.” Morisuke continued walking and the man, Lev, went back to his work. The group passed by him. Tetsuro muttered a quick ‘Sup, Lev?’ before moving on. Kei said nothing, instead choosing to get this over as soon as possible. Shouyou stopped to marvel at the man’s height -- he was taller than Shouyou while still hunched over -- until Tobio grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away.

Morisuke veered off into the aisle sectioned labeled ‘mens’ and stopped to turn around. 

“I’ll assume that you--” He pointed to Kei, “--like casual but stylish. Big’n’tall is in the corner, take Tetsuro with you. Uh, you might need to go, too--” This time he pointed at Tobio, “--but your more formal I think.”

He turned to Shouyou. 

“You. I think you might like something I have in the backroom. Come with me, hmm?” He nodded to a room off in the left corner of the shop. It was painted with the same faded green as the rest of the walls. Shouyou nodded eagerly and did what he was told. 

Tetsuro was already in the “Big’n’tall” section before Kei could say anything. He was standing under a hanging sign that said ‘Traditional’. Guess that was what he was going with?

Kei steered clear from that and instead went with what Morisuke said -- he was right, after all. Something not too informal but not to snobbish was what he liked. 

He decided that simple was the best way to go in this situation. He picked out a dark forest green button up and a black suit set -- jacket and pants. He debated between getting a vest, too, but that was just too much for one night. 

By the time he had picked out what he wanted, Tobio was already done. 

And God, Morisuke was right. 

Tobio had the whole shebang in his little collection of hangers -- an all white tuxedo ensemble, complete with a bowtie. There was even a dark blue pocket square. He was looking at the shoe rack that sat farther in the back of the store. 

Tobio was almost always in some kind of athletic brand outfit, so Kei never saw him as someone to know about their formal fashion. Guess he was wrong. 

Tetsuro had disappeared, presumably into the fitting room. Kei could hear muffled conversation from 3 different voices in there-- Tetsuro, Shouyou, and Morisuke. Kei didn’t want to ad a fourth, so he waited outside for them to finish. 

Morisuke came out first. He had rolled his sleeves up and produced a wrist pincushion which he brandished on his left wrist. A roll up ruler hung from his neck and ended at his waist. 

“Whew! That kid has my work cut out for me. His wings’ll be the end of me.” Morisuke stalked off to the counter as Shouyou jumped out of the fitting rooms and into the walkway leading up to it. 

The first thing that Kei locked onto was the mass of colors he had to adjust to. 

The short, traditional looking vest was embroidered with golden thread and accented the deep blue fabric. A loose fabric strip was pulled up around his chest, and was the plainest thing on his body. Several sashes were wrapped around his hips and waist, bearing metal beads that hang off the edges and glass beads that detailed the rest. They were a variety of different shades and hues that could hurt the eye Shouyou jumped around too much. The harem pants was the same as his vest, golden thread against navy. Teardrop earrings hung from his ears -- clip-ons? -- and fabric bracelets that bore the same metal beads as the sashes clinked whenever he moved. Everything fit perfectly.

The only issue was his wings -- they were folded inside the jacket to keep it from riding up and restricting the wings in a more painful way than they already were. 

Morisuke came back with scissors in hand. He motioned for Shouyou to take the vest off, draping it over his arm. He turned to Tobio and opened his mouth before closing it and smiling. Instead, he turned to Kei.

“I think you should go try those on.” Kei complied, but not before catching sight of a completely slack jawed Tobio who was entranced by Shouyou’s every move. 

If he makes a move, Kei better not be a witness.

Tetsuro was still rustling around in his stall when Kei walked in. Tetsuro was in the third stall from the left, so Kei went to the very first one. 

“How’s shortstack doin’?”

Kei shrugged off his jacket and his shirts before responding. 

“Enjoying the attention. He has Tobio wrapped around his little finger.” He unbuttoned his pants and stepped out of them, unclipping the hanger the store’s pants was on.

“Really not looking forward to them being anywhere near each other for the next few days. I don’t know who’s making what move first, but I don’t want to be there when it happens either way.”

Tetsuro chuckled over the sound of ...zipper? He couldn’t think of anything that would require one, and it sounded too long to be pants, but… whatever. 

Kei pulled on the casual clothing ensemble as Tetsuro unlocked his stall and walked out. He footsteps got farther, then stopped. Kei could hear Morisuke tell Tetsuro to turn around so he could fix this and that. Kei adjusted how the jacket felt -- it was a little long in the arms -- before stepping out as well.

Tetsuro, apparently, was more ripped than he had originally thought. 

Muscle was outlined by skin-tight black spandex, thick and shiny against his slightly tanned skin. A teardrop shape was cut out of the front, starting at the middle of his clavicle and ending at the start of his chest. It was sleeveless, but his forearms were covered by a pair of fingerless gloves that wrapped around the middle finger. The shirt -- is that what it was? -- stopped at his waist, interrupted by the large, twisted red and white rope wrapped around him. It tied around the back, where Morisuke was fussing with it, and held up his airy, layered maroon pants. They had no cuff, but were tied off with rope similar to the type wrapped around his waist. His feet were covered like his forearms were, his ankles covered by the pants.

He was facing Kei, but staring at the ground. He look startled for a short beat once he noticed Kei, but calmed himself, smiled, and waved. Kei noted that his nails were as long as ever.

“Is the tailhole big enough?” Morisuke pulled the rope taut and made a large bow before pulling away and putting his hands on his hips. 

“‘S kinda snug? But I can deal if you’re busy.” Tetsuro made a slow turn around, his back now to Kei so he could face Morisuke. 

“As tempting as less work sounds, my top priority is customer satisfaction. Go ahead and change so I can alter it.”

Tetsuro raised his arms in a defeated position and turned around to return to his stall. He grinned at Kei as he passed. 

“Lookin’ smooth, Kei.”

Kei froze up a bit, a slight burn on his face that seemed to travel to his heart, but managed to nod his head in acknowledgment. Morisuke nodded and crossed his arms. 

“A little plain, but it suits you. More room for decoration. Oh, and the arms are a little long, right?” Kei frowned.

“That’ll be a yes on the sleeves but a no on the decoration. This is fine the way it is.” Morisuke hummed, but didn’t push it. 

Kei, too, returned to his stall to change. Tobio pushed open the stall next to him not moments later. Kei quickened his pace and left before Tetsuro could.

 

It was a few hours before all the clothing exchanges and alterations were made. Morisuke was deft with the sewing machine and finished each quickly and professionally, but the actual act of putting them on after each fix took the most time. Each man left with a covered hanger filled with clothes -- Tetsuro had two, one for him and one for Kenma -- and returned home just shy of 5PM.

Kenma was sitting at his counter at the front of the shop as Akaashi and Koutaro loitered in the downstairs area. He perked up at the opening of the door, but quickly drooped down once he saw the extra clothing bag in Tetsuro’s hand. 

“I told you I already got something.”

Tetsuro dropped Kenma’s bag onto the dusty counter and pushed it forward.

“I’m making us match. Now go get changed, their already laying the tables out.”

It was true. The sun was starting to leave the sky, and swarms of Aelurus dwellers were beginning to set up long wooden tables and benches all up and down the street. Shouyou was excited beyond words, choosing instead to jump up and down when he could. Tobio seemed relatively indifferent, but Kei knew that it was just a matter of time before Shouyou’s excitement rubbed off on him. 

And Kei?

Well, Kei was busy trying get Tetsuro’s abs out of his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted this to come out earlier but describing clothes is hard >:'( that and i was trying to find irl traditional clothes that looked like shous and it just Did Not Work so i resorted to magi for inspo lol  
> anyway! banquet time is upon us. 
> 
> as per usual, please leave a kudo if you enjoy my work! thank you for you continued interest!


	11. food

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei thoroughly hates the festival, but not because it's a festival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> note: in the us, the legal drinking age is 21. dunno what its like in other places, but! kei (18) partakes in some wine this chapter and, well. yknow. if you are sensitive to technical underaged drinking, please feel free to skip from "Drinks were being passed out..." to the end of the chapter. a short summery of this section will be included at the end so you dont miss too much!  
> (please let me know if warnings like this is good! thanks!)

Shouyou took a slow turn-around to show off every angle of his shining, shimmering, glistening clothes. His wings were finally allowed to be free, unfurled and spreading tangerine hued feathers across the floor. Kenma eyed them as they floated to the ground. He kept re-adjusting the large rope belt around his waist. His shirt was larger than Kuroo’s -- instead of spandex, it was normal cotton. Still sleeveless, still with the little hole at the collarbones. 

Koutaro clapped his hands and cheered boisterously. Keiji smiled and complemented how well the colors went with his plumage. Shouyou stuck his hip out so Keiji could feel the fabric, and Kei could feel Tobio’s eyes burning holes into the sashes. Talk about tension. 

By the time everyone was dressed, it had already become 8PM. Kei felt… underdressed. Tobio ended up being swayed by Morisuke, and was now dressed in more or a military uniform. It had the gold shoulder pads with the rope cuttings drooped over his arms, and the bright red sash with the golden edges. Coiled rope traveled from his right arm to his right breast pocket. Even the cuffs were embroidered heavily, intricate swirls and loops and leave-like patterns all densely packed into one small space. 

Koutaro was dressed just as Kenma and Tetsuro was -- the colors were just different. His pants was a shock of yellow restrained by black and white rope. There were holes in the back of his shirt, too. Kei assumed they were for wings but… he didn’t have those. Much like his Aelurus companions, there seemed to be holes in places there shouldn’t.

Keiji was by far the most elegant. He was wearing a long-sleeved, sheer white blouse. The sleeve cuffs were open and long, reaching past his knees when he held his arms at his side. The blouse tucked in at the waist and flared out at the bottom, giving way to long slender legs coated in solid white leggings. He wore pure white boots, as well, and the contrast between his dark hair and his clothes even more apparent. Metal accents -- at his chest, on the tops of his boots, and the jewelry wrapped around his neck, fingers, and forehead -- were delicate and soft against the white. 

So now Kei was the only one resembling modern wear. It made him stand out more, in his opinion, to be dressed so plainly next to people so extravagant and, frankly, beautiful. 

To put it bluntly, he felt self conscious. Not that he would ever say it outloud, but.

The rest of the group chattered amongst themselves as Kei stared out the door. It was propped open, ready for them to embark on their little adventure down the now lantern-lit roads and past the many, many tables. He tuned out the voices of those around him till he was in his own little bubble.

The bubble filled with ill thoughts and scathing remarks about how much he hated this, how much he regretted going along with this, and… how much he missed home. He stopped focusing on what he was seeing, the lantern across the way a blurry red spot. 

The noise around him was garbled, then it disappeared completely. He felt alone… and it was comfortable. 

Until he felt the grip on his arm and he was flung into the real world once more. 

“Kei? We’re going now.”

It was Tetsuro, with those damned pretty eyes and the hellishly deep voice and the infuriating personality. The rest of the group had left already -- maybe the absence of sound was simply due to the source leaving -- so it was just them. Standing in a dusty old shop, alone. 

Kei hummed and pulled away his arm as gently as he could, but Tetsuro’s hold grew tighter. 

“What?” Kei looked up at Tetsuro and scowled. He didn’t mean to, but he was already being pushed to the end of his nerves -- and he did that all by himself. Tetsuro’s gaze softened, same as his grip. 

“Are you okay? You seem uncomfortable. You can stay here if you want, I’ll bring something back for you if you need me to.” 

It annoyed Kei that he was being so nice. He didn’t ask for him to. He didn’t  _ need _ him to. It made Kei’s stomach turn in that violent little way it did whenever Tetsuro was around. 

When did Kei get so soft?

So Kei pulled his arm away, with force this time, and re-adjusted his jacket. 

“I’m fine. Just hungry.” He put a hip to the door and pushed it open, looking back at Tetsuro with as neutral of a face as he could muster. 

“Coming?”

Tetsuro stared at him before straightening his back and exhaling deeply. 

“Coming.”

 

Kei was silent throughout the whole walk to where the rest of them were seated. He didn’t feel like looking at Tetsuro let alone talk to him, so he kept his eyes on the brick stone beneath his feet and did not speak a word. 

Tetsuro must have felt the aggression coming off him in waves, because he didn’t say anything either. 

The closer to the heart of the festivals they got, the more crowded it was. People of all ages bustled around food stalls, conversed with friends, played games and ran through the street. Musicians played in tandem, following the same raucous beat with the precision of professionals. Horns would blast at their loudest, the crash of symbols accentuated high points, and the drums kept a steady pace. 

Kei enjoyed it. It silenced the low mummering of the crowd and instead gave him something to focus on. 

Kei soon spotted the bright orange shock of hair of a certain harpy --though, more accurately, gremlin -- accompanied by flashy golden tassels, woven rope belts, and flowy white sleeves. Kenma was the first to notice them approach. He locked eye with Kei and nodded. Kei nodded back before Kema turned to face Tetsuro. He yelled something in a language he couldn’t understand, causing Tetsuro to pout and yell back. Tetsuro jogged over, leaving Kei to trail behind. 

Kei’s mood was deteriorating every second he spent outside. 

The loud, deep, guttural noise of a gong echoed throughout the crowd. Everyone turned their attention to just down the street, where four golden pedestals sat in a half circle. Each was occupied by a man -- except for one, which was occupied by two --, dressed not unlike Tetsuro was. Two of the men were older gentlemen, faces withered by time and greyed by life. The chubby one had the face of a cat -- sly, smiling, but somehow… cunning. The other was thin, his hands behind his back. His scowl was prominent even from Kei’s angle. His nose was strong and slightly hooked, like an eagle’s beak. 

The other three were younger, maybe slightly older than Kei. The pedestal with two men was slightly more oval shaped to accommodate the extra body. They both had the same hair, same face….twins. One was grinning wildly, while the other kept a poker face. The last man was also smiling but… something was off. It didn’t feel real, but he couldn’t say it really was. 

There was something off-putting about each man, is Kei was honest. 

The catlike older man raised his hand to completely stop stray chattering. 

“This festival has been an important tradition through the ages. As a child, I too would come here. I always wished that it would last till my last breath. And I think I can say that that very may well happen. I’d like to thank all four clans here today -- Nekoma, Shiratori, Nohebi, and Inarizaki. I’d also like to welcome the newly appointed heads of Nohebi and Inarizaki. It’s an honor to still be in business as the new generation of leaders grow into their positions.”

The twins and the last man bowed in the direction of the old man. 

“Now, I know you’ve been waiting for this all month. I know I have.” The old man waved for the rest to follow him as he stepped down from the pedestal and over to the gong. It looked old, ancient even. You could see all the dents in it if the light hit it right. The boy that hit it the first time handed the mallet to the old man. He raised it so the crowd could see, then, with all his strength, hit the gong with the mallet.

Each man did the same. The twins even hit it together, high fiving when it worked. The crowd rippled with laughter at that. Kei was not amused. 

The old man looked to each leader. He nodded at them, all nodding back. Then, in tandem, they raised their voice as loud as it could go.

“Power be to the moon!”

The crowd screamed it back. Kei looked around and his eyes widened. 

Extra limbs were popping up as far as the eye could see. Bushy tails, perky ears, snake tails and large wings shook and shivered as they revealed themselves to the world. 

Kei looked to his own group and he could feel his jaw drop.

Tetsuro was now sporting a pair of pitch black ears and a long, lithe tail. He was stretching his arms, his ears twitching and his tail waving in an imaginary wind. Kenma was the same, except his coat was a rich brown. Much different from his blond hair. Though, to be fair, his root were growing in. Koutaro was the most surprising. A large pair of mottled owl’s wings was encasing Shouyou’s small figure as they hugged. They were glossy and… beautiful. Just like an actual birds. 

Tobio was just as shocked as Kei, except he was more hands on. His hands creeped towards Koutarou’s wings, but shot back as soon as he was caught. Koutarou let out a hearty laugh, put down Shouyou, and extended the wing closer to Tobio. 

“It’s not everyday you see this. Go ahead.” Tobio’s eyes sparkled as he patted down the feathers on Koutarou. Shouyou joined in, complaining that his wings were rougher than Koutarou’s.

“It’s because yours are out all the time! Mine only come out, like, once in a blue moon.”

“Once a year, Kou, once a year.” Keiji was rolling back his sleeves, wrapping and tucking them into the thinner part of the sleeve.

“Alright now, I think it’s time for us to find a place to sit.” Tetsuro patted the bench spots next to him. Kema took his seat on Tetsuro’s right, away from Kei. The others followed suit -- Keiji next to Koutarou, Shouyou in-between Koutarou and Tobio. The last seat was next to Tetsuro. He looked up at Kei expectantly and patted the seat next to him again. Kei pursed his lips and plopped down next to him. He made sure to leave as much room as he could between him and Tetsuro, but he still felt all too close for comfort. 

Drinks were being passed out by younger children and teens. Giant wooden plates filled with maybe 20 cups at a time were balanced by four small hands and removed with two bigger ones. Shouyou got a sweet juice blend, Tobio a flavoured milk, Kenma a black coffee, and Keiji, Kou, and Tetsuro a beer each. Kei took a moment before muttering that he wanted a glass of wine, is possible. 

The first round of food was very, very green. 

Salads doused in all sorts of toppings and dressings, veggie burgers piled high with mushrooms and lettuce, stir fried vegetables with soy sauce and rice. Kei took small amounts of everything, drinking more of the wine than eating. Tetsuro eyed him warily, glancing at the wine glass being quickly drained in front of him. 

Kei was feeling woozy by the time the second round of food came about. It was meat this time. It looked delicious by all accounts, but Kei took nothing. His tolerance to alcohol was shamefully low, and it was affecting his already low appetite.. It was very good wine to get drunk on, though. He rose from his seat, swaying a bit as he did so.

“Where are you going? You look sick!” Shouyou exclaimed. Tetsuro looked Kei up and down, narrowing in on Kei’s flushed face.

“Shouyou’s right. You don’t look good. Look, I’ll take you back--” Tetsuro was beginning to get up out of his seat. Kei shot Tetsuro an icy glare before he could even finish his sentence. 

“Leave me alone, Tetsuro.” Tetsuro stared at Kei for a heartbeat. But Kei won this little staring contest, leaving Tetsuro to grind his teeth before sitting back down. Keiji looked on with a worried expression. As Kei walked away from the table -- well, more like stumbled away -- he could feel the eyes of his companion's trail his back. 

He was too far gone to care, though.

 

Kei soon stumbled into a cleared out meadow. Few people milled about, as it was far away from the festivities. He clumsily dropped into the grass and blew an alcohol tainted breath out towards the sky that was circling above him. Chatter and light still came to him from the festival, but not in the overwhelming waves of before. His mood was becoming better, too; the space might’ve been helping, but it was probably just the wine. 

He couldn’t tell what ticked him off in the first place. 

Well. 

He did. 

Saying it out loud, that something so petty as  _ that  _ bothered him? It was ridiculous, childish-- 

“Figured you’d disappear somewhere around here.”

Kei’s train of thought was utterly derailed by the low, familiar voice of someone he specifically told to leave him alone. 

“Now, I’m no Keiji, but I bet you were thinking ‘I told him not to follow me!’, right?”

The sound of crunching grass and another body dropping beside his own punctuated the sentence that Kei refused to answer. Maybe it was that damn wine in his system, or maybe it was something more human, but whatever it was was making him act out. Act different. Act like a kid again. 

“C’mon Kei. At least acknowledge I’m here.”

Silence. A sigh.

“Fine. Then at least let me do the talking?”

More silence. A deep inhale. 

“I didn’t know that you hated social events so much. If I had known, I wouldn’t have suggested it. I just… I thought it would be fun y’know? I’ve been going since I was a kid, Kou  _ finally  _ brought his partner home to enjoy it, so I thought why not! That and, uh. I don’t know why I’m getting nervous now, because you kind of already know how I feel ab-”

“H-hey, Tetsuro, that's sweet and all but-”

“W-what? What’s wrong?”

“I… I think I’m going to throw up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> summary for those who skipped it:  
> kei gets drunk, leaves the table despite kuroo Not Liking That! and wanders off into an empty meadow. kuroo chases after him, tries to have a heart to heart, but kei has to vomit
> 
> \-----
> 
> cant wait to see the miya boys in animation action! whoo!  
> anyway thank you for bearing with my overly detailed clothing descriptions... can u tell i love how fancy clothes look?  
> still dont know what the actual fuck im doing after 11 chaps. i mean i do, vaguely, but writing kuroo is hard because i write kei so often that i dunno how to Not write him yknow?
> 
> note: kept writing akaashi instead of keiji in past chaps so excuse that until i fix tht pls
> 
> this a long note... anyway!! thank you so much for reading! i had to rewrite this a few times and im still not wholly satisfied but i hope you liked it!! kudos are greatly appreciated if you havent already given one!


	12. talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei talks.

Kei decided that this was the worst turn of events he’s ever been involved in. Worse than when he fell off that tree when he was 6 and got a permanent scar on the back of his leg. Worse than when he nicked his ear trying to climb under a fence. Worse than when his brother walked in on him “sleeping”. Twice. 

He was hunched over the grass, shaking and embarrassed and with less food in him than before. Tetsuro hovered nervously around him, like he was trying to decide whether to go get help or stay.

Really, Kei would’ve prefered for him to stay. But he  _ really  _ didn’t feel like being around the guy he maybe kind of liked after expelling bile all over the ground. After he felt that he was done, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve -- sorry, Morisuke -- and got off his knees and onto his backside. 

Kei looked up at Tetsuro and mustered the harshest look he could, even though he knew he probably looked like he was just thrown into a washing machine for an hour. 

“What? I’m fine.”

“You are  _ anything  _ but fine, Kei. You literally just threw up in front of me.” Kei scrunched up his nose. 

“Try not to remind me.” Tetsuro sighed and ran his hand through his bangs. His tail was curled up to his body, stationary save for random twitches. 

“Look. Let me take you home. I get it, you hate me right now -- or maybe always? But… just let me take care of you.”

Kei stared up at Tetsuro for a moment. Tetsuro extended his hand out for Kei to grab. And he did. Grumbling all the while, but he did. Tetsuro’s tail relaxed a bit, but his face was still tense. His hand lingered in Kei’s before he pulled away. 

“Shall we?”

 

Tetsuro ushered Kei through the old wooden door and up the stairs to the apartment. Though the shop was always quiet, he usually heard the squabbling that accompanied living with the idiot duo. But now, with them gone, it was eerily quiet -- not that he hated the quiet, but after having been surrounded by people it was a stark, almost startling contrast to say the least. 

“Just lie down in your room, I’ll be there in a bit.” Tetsuro waved Kei away while he busied himself in the kitchen. 

Kei complied, stumbling weakly down the hall. His head was beginning to pound and every streak of light that met his eyes made it worse. He used the wall to keep him up as he walked into the dark room assigned as his. Carefully, he lowered himself onto the bed. 

“God, this is pathetic.” He said, to no one in particular. 

No one responded. Only the sounds of clanking in the bathroom -- Tetsuro must’ve been done doing whatever in the kitchen -- echoed through the walls. Kei moved to lie down, covering his eyes with his arm and trying to will the pain away. He was struggling to keep awake, his eyelids heavy and the headache clouding his mind. He could faintly hear a knock on his door as he began to float away into unconsciousness. 

 

Kei’s eyes hadn’t even opened and he could already feel the telltale throbbing of a hangover. He groaned and put a hand to his head, like that would help. He rose slowly, hunching over in pain. His mouth tasted horrible. He needed water. 

And then he heard the snoring. 

It was close, and every snore made his head hurt a little bit more. A little… too close. It wasn’t even coming from another room. It was… right beside him?

He turned his head and was met with the sleeping, snoring, hunched up body of Tetsuro. He was sitting in one of the wooden chairs from the kitchen, his arms folded against his arms and his legs crossed at the ankles. He had lost the ears and the tail, but he was still in his clothes from last night. His eyebrows were all knit, like he was having a bad dream. 

Kei stared for a moment before realizing oh god, he got  _ drunk _ , vomited in front of Tetsuro of  _ all  _ people, and had to be taken home early. Like a child. Oh god. Oh  _ fuck. I’m an idiot, a damn fool! Nothing more than an idiot, an- _

Tetsuro’s snore ceased suddenly. He was very much awake now, his eyes wide and alert and his legs no longer crossed. He scanned the room with his eyes before seeing Kei and taking up that worried look from last night all over again. 

“Hey, hey. Don’t do that.”

Tetsuro’s voice was warm and low, almost in a coo. Kei’s grip on his hair loosed only a fraction, but that must have been enough for Tetsuro. He leaned forward -- wincing a bit as he did -- and slipped his hands over Kei’s a gently pried them from his scalp. Kei bit his lip and refused to meet Tetsuro’s eyes, instead looking to the wall. Tetsuro’s hands were warm against Kei’s. It might have been comforting if Kei wasn’t stupid, embarrassed, and wishing he was home. 

“If your worried about last night, uh. I didn’t mind, y’know.” 

Kei furrowed his brow more. He didn’t want to listen to Tetsuro apologize for  _ his  _ mess, but he couldn’t leave either. Tetsuro’s hands were like magnets and Kei was a hunk of metal caught in his magnetic field. Kei’s ears shifted even lower than they were before. Tetsuro kept going. 

“I know you think that it was your fault, but I… I was the first to ask you to the festival, remember? So all the blame can go on me.”

“... No.”

“No?”

Kei’s throat was beginning to close up, but he kept pushing his luck.

“ _ I’m _ the one who pushed my limits.  _ I’m  _ the one who acted out… like a child.” Kei chuckled, but it was raspy and hollow. “That really is all I am. It was a mistake for you to be any kind of interested in me. I’m immature, and I don’t  _ do  _ festivals, but I didn’t want to be left out, and I just-”

Kei’s voice rose before it stopped completely. His vision was blurry. Why was he crying? Why? There was nothing to cry about. What a child. What a-

“Hey, hey, listen to me.”

Kei clamped his mouth shut and willed the tears away. 

“I know you’re going through a lot. You just left home and… and I was wrong to make a move on you. Or pressure you, or anything I did to make you think that you had to act for me. Just… forget that I ever said anything. About, well. You know.”

Tetsuro began to pull his hands away, but was caught in Kei’s solid clamp. Tetsuro sighed, but it wasn’t sad. Or disappointed. Kei couldn’t pinpoint what it really sounded like in his muddled, overly-emotional, hungover brain.

“Okay. How about this, we can both accept some of the fault. I still… still think we should let whatever we have drop for a bit, okay?”

Kei, not trusting his voice, nodded instead. It was better than not having closure at all, and being awkward for the rest of his stay. Tetsuro huffed -- it sounded more sad but rather content -- and pulled away his hands for good this time. Kei didn’t protest. 

“I’ll get you some medicine and water, okay? I’m sure your head is pounding right now.”

The wood floor creaked as Tetsuro shuffled out of the room. Kei heard him yawn through the walls and another wave of guilt washed over him. He was supposed to be an adult now, he was supposed to be able to take care of himself. 

But here he was. Sitting a bed that wasn’t his, crying over events he could’ve prevented, and being a burden to the one he… the one he definitely liked. 

 

It turns out that Shouyou and Tobio had vacated the house for a day. Kei doubted it was their own plan -- Tetsuro seemed to be texting someone, probably Kenma, to get them to leave. Tetsuro had changed out of his festival wear and into the clothes he had left at Kenma’s house. Kei, too, changed, only after urged by Tetsuro. Kei was still in bed, but he was feeling better. Several times he dozed off before he knew it, and Tetsuro seemingly never left his side. He only left when Kei asked for something. 

They spoke idly, about little things that you don’t necessarily need to know. Like how Kei hates extremely cold drinks, or how Tetsuro is allergic to pineapples. How Kei knew how to climb trees like a pro, how Tetsuro never used lotion but still had soft skin. How Kei always wanted to visit the beach at some point in his life, how Tetsuro promised to take him someday. It was calming, and with each new fact Kei could feel himself become a little more stable again. 

The rest of their little group returned later in the day, when the sun had set. Tetsuro left to greet them and, presumably, update them on Kei’s conditions. Shouyou and Tobio stuck their head through the door briefly, and Kei couldn’t help but notice how much closer they were now. How the bickering was no long pointed and annoyed but softer and maybe a tad bit loving. 

It made Kei’s stomach twist, but he said nothing about it. 

Keiji brought him back a little something -- it was a book on the places history. Kei hoped his appreciation shown through his tiredness. Koutarou was not allowed in his room. He could not deal with him. 

Tetsuro returned to announce his leaving. Kei couldn’t help but be sad -- and that in itself was shocking to Kei, really. But he shoved that thought back and thanked Tetsuro for his help. 

“It was nothin’. Anything for you.” Tetsuro’s smile was small but Kei could tell that he meant it. And it made Kei just a little bit terrified. Tetsuro turned to close the door. 

“W-wait. Hold on.”

Tetsuro looked up, surprised. His hand was still on the knob. Kei clasped and unclasped his hands in his lap. God, this shouldn’t be so embarrassing.

“Can I… have your number?”

Tetsuro stood there for a bit before chuckling and lifted his hand from the doorknob. He stuck his hand into his jean pocket and fished out his phone. 

“Thought you’d never ask. Here, gimme.” 

He walked over to Kei’s bed and prompted for Kei to hand over his phone. Kei did so, and Tetsuro went about adding his number. He handed Kei back his phone, whispered a sweet goodbye, then shut the door without another noise. 

And just like that, his room was silent. The lights were off, the soft murmurs of Shouyou and Tobio had died, and he was left with his thoughts. Kei leaned back into his pillow and sighed. His hands clenched and unclenched around his phone. 

His thoughts swirled with all the little things that Tetsuro had told him -- he used to be very timid as a child, he called himself an Aelurus native but he really moved here when he was about 6, he collects candles.

Each new thing he knew about Tetsuro just made him more and more unnecessarily likeable. It was like an emotional dam had been broken in Kei, because now he broke out in a smile whenever he thought of that funny thing Tetsuro said, and how he cringed whenever he thought of that awkward moment on the train.

And then it hit him, like the trains he’d been riding around in all week. That even from that first meeting, from that bump on the train, he knew. 

He knew these feelings, he knew them all too well, and that it could only end in disaster. If the past day’s current events hadn’t been telling enough, anyway. 

Kei draped a bony arm over his eyes and took in a deep breath. 

It was probably love. Love at first sight, even.

The universe was a cruel, cruel thing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i... did not expect for this to take such a turn i promise  
> does this mean i can add angst to the tags now?? have i finally written something angst tag worthy??  
> anyway i promise that they next few chapters wont be so dark orz  
> i want to write cute kurotsukis! i swear!
> 
> oh!!! also!!!!!! thank you SO much for 50 kudos/500 hits! ive never imagined that my writing would garner such luv... i was really taken aback when i checked it recently! its just... amazing! i cant thank yall enough for the support!  
> on that note, kudos are extremely appreciated! it makes me super happy to see my numbers grow!  
> thank you for your continued interest!


	13. recover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei makes plans he actually looks forward to.

Kei’s first crush was an upperclassmen in middle school. 

He was a third year when Kei was in his first. He was his tutor -- they met in the library, and he offered to give him History lessons. He was smart, always at the top of his class -- but he always made time for Kei, even when he should’ve been studying. Kei’s memory of him now is somewhat hazy, but he remembers the chocolate brown hair that was cut just a little too short and the dimples that showed themselves even when he wasn’t smiling. Somewhere down the line, admiration became infatuation and every stray touch or shining smile sent Kei into a fit. 

Kei never learned the girls name. He didn’t bother trying. But one day that girl with the long satin black hair waltzed into his upperclassman’s life and gave him a whirl. Kei learned later that the eventually did go out -- first year of high school, after pining for two years -- and got engaged. It was bittersweet news. 

Kei had no more luck in high school. He had already come to terms with his, ah, preferences. But that didn’t change the fact that he always went after the unattainable. The next guy was, again, older than him, but only by a year. He had a sly little smile that made all the girls swoon and dirty blond hair that got lighter in the summer. His ears were the shortest in their little group, and he got teased about it constantly. 

Kei bit the bullet at the end of that year. But the feelings he had harboured were not returned. It was easier to dodge him as they no longer shared a hallway, and eating in the classroom meant they wouldn’t have to see each other. Sometimes Kei wonders what happened to him. 

Every crush led to heartache. And so Kei vowed to never entertain the idea of “love” every again. But some damned cat walked into his life and maybe, possibly, probably changed that for him. Even is he  _ did  _ kind of say that he would cool it a few days ago. 

Kei groaned as birds chirped away outside the room’s window. It was 7:24AM. They never knew how to shut up no matter where he was, huh. He put a hand to up to his face and covered his eyes. 

Kei had to admit -- he was stressed. Not really sad, but... stressed. 

Leaving so suddenly, moving from place to place -- even sleeping on a train, for God’s sake. And all the new people, and all the new places, it just -- it was a lot. And then you put Tetsuro into the mix… 

“Emotions are stupid. People are stupid.”

_ I’m stupid.  _

 

It didn’t take very long for Shouyou to come crashing into his room like some dog that was finally let off it’s leash. Tobio soon followed -- he had to wrangle Shouyou off of Kei -- and just like that the odd little funk that was hanging around Kei like a raincloud was gone. For now, at least.  

“So, what’s going on with you and Tetsuro?”

Shouyou had his head propped up by the chin with his hands. His smile seemed innocent enough, but Kei could tell it was a loaded question. 

“He’s a person, I’m a person. We interact when it’s deemed appropriate.”

Tobio shoved a piece of egg into his mouth and chewed. 

“He meant romantically, y’know.” Tobio leaned forward on the table by his elbows. God, these two. 

“I’m not as thick in the head as you guys, I know what he meant.”

Kei sighed and leaned back in his chair. Whether he wanted to spill or not wasn’t the issue -- that was going to happen eventually -- , it was whether they were going to blab about it all over the place. Shouyou perked up, almost like he could read Kei’s mind. 

“I promise I won’t tell anyone! Really!”

He clapped his hands together and smiled. Kei rolled his eyes.

“Fine.”

Shouyou gasped and scooched in his chair. What a child. 

“I don’t know what you want me to say, really. The feelings are… presumably mutual. But he also told me that we should wait.”

Shouyou pursed his lips. Tobio stabbed through the last of his eggs. 

“But that’s so boring!”

And then his face lit up. 

“Hey, hey. You guys should go on a date.”

It was the last day of the festival, but Kei didn’t want to go along with this little get-together plan. Not after his little… breakdown, at least. But Shouyou was adamant. 

“C’mon! You don’t even have to do anything, it’s just like. A walking thingy.”

Kei raised a brow and looked to Tobio for explanation. He just leaned farther back in his seat and shrugged. 

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know either.”

“You’re no help.”

Shouyou shook out his wings as he got up and out of his chair. 

“Look, Kenma’ll tell you. He’s the one who told  _ me _ anyway.”

Kei pushed forward his half empty plate of food and go up as well. His knee clicked as he did so, and he winced. That’s what he got for being in bed for too long, he supposed. 

“Fine. I’ll ask him later.” He picked up his dish and carefully lowered it into the sink. He flicked the faucet handle up and let the water run over the dish. 

“No! He’s down there already, so we can ask now!”

Kei put a hand on his lower back and sighed. He dropped the rinsed-off dish into the other side of the sink and turned off the water. He wiped his hands off on the towel on the rack next to him. 

“Fine. Hope he doesn’t mind pajamas.”

Shouyou let out a little whoop of success and collected the rest of his and Tobio’s plates. Tobio got out of his chair, too, and pushed in all of their chairs. Kei went back to his room to collect his phone, ignoring the chatter from the other room. 

He slipped it into his pajama pockets, noting that the glass wasn’t as cold as he thought it would be. Especially for this time of year -- it was nearing mid-September. It was getting quite cold in other places, but it seemed to be ever warm in this place. Odd. 

“Ready to blow this popsicle stand?”

“Shouyou, literally all we’re doing is going downstairs.”

“But it sounded cool, right? It totally sounded cool. Koutarou said it, too, and it was really cool!”

“How many times are you gonna say cool?”

“Till it stops sounding cool, I guess.”

Tobio let out a small grin and a little snicker at Kei’s comment. Shouyou huffed. 

“Don’t encourage him! Tobidummy!”

Kei coughed to disguise his laugh. That has got to be the  _ worst  _ nickname he’s ever heard. Perhap a tad bit creative, but…. Still the worst. 

Kenma was behind the counter, as per usual. Kei figured it was like this every day. The window was propped open with a door stopper, letting the cool wind into the stuffy building. Kei could hear talking from downstairs, but it was simply too far away to pinpoint who it could be. 

Shouyou ran up to the counter and almost sprung up on it, his arms on the countertop being just enough to stop him.

“Hi Kenma!” Shouyou’s voice was cheerful and Kei heard Tobio grunt behind him. The guy better work on that whole territorial thing, because Shouyou was like this with pretty much everyone. 

Kenma looked up from his game and muttered a low ‘Hello’ that Kei could barely hear, even though he wasn’t that far away from where he was sitting now. Shouyou launched into his queries immediately. 

“Ne, today’s the last day of the festival right?”

A nod. 

“And the entire thing is just like a walking thing across the area right?”

A nod and some clarification. 

“It’s hiking through the surrounding woods that separate all the different tribes. I try to get out of doing it but Kuro likes to drag me into it anyway.”

Sounds like him, Kei mused to himself. 

“It’s not a hard walk, all the paths are already cut out from years of being walked, and the ground is pretty level. A lot of people go in traditional clothes, too.”

Kenma pursed his lips. 

“Kuro’s probably gonna make me wear them, too.”

Heavy footsteps, 3 pairs to be exact, gradually grew louder as they arrived at the top of the stairs. Tetsuro put his hands to his hips and smiled. 

“Right you are, my dearest Ken!”

Kenma shot his head back and groaned, tipping the stool back on two legs. He held the counter with both hands for stability. Tetsuro slipped behind the counter and leaned on it, talking in that language he had spoken in to Kenma before. 

Keiji and Koutarou waved at the trio as they walked up. Koutarou and Shouyou launched themselves into a conversation about Koutarou’s job -- he was a pro volleyball player, which would explain the muscles --, Tobio hovering around them. Keiji approached Kei, smiling softly. 

“How are you feeling?”

Kei shrugged. 

“Fine. Could be better.”

He pulled his hands in front of himself, twisting and folding them. Keiji hummed in acknowledgement, looking at Koutarou. There was a twinkle in his eyes that Kei could just barely see. 

“I don’t know what you and Tetsuro discussed, but it’s ok to be honest to yourself.”

Kei looked up at Keiji, but he was still looking at Koutarou.

“Mind you, I didn’t get the whole story. But I was like you once.” Keiji let out a soft laugh and turned to Kei. “Mutual pining gets you nowhere.”

Kei went to spit out a sarcastic comment but was cut off by Keiji raising his hand.

“I know Tetsuro set up a, ah, ‘break’. And that you’re worried about… my, quite a few things. Whoops, shouldn’t listen too hard, should I? But I can assure you. It will work out just fine.”

Kei stared, stunned, as Keiji left Kei and joined Koutarou in his conversation about this and that. He slipped an arm around Koutarou’s, who leaned in to the touch. 

Damn lovey-dovey bastards. 

Kei let out his third sigh of the morning and put his hand to his hip. Wood creaked under foot as someone else walked up beside him. He didn’t have to turn to know who it was. 

“Keiji say something weird?” Tetsuro leaned a bit when he said so, and Kei tried to ignore how his breath tingled against Kei’s skin.

“Just invading my privacy, nothing major.”

Tetsuro huffed out a laugh and Kei couldn’t help but squeeze out a small smile. 

“I keep telling him to, y’know, not do that. Guess it’s habit.”

Kei hummed in agreement. 

“Oh, by the way. Shouyou suggested we all go for a round two of the festival. Since I missed yesterday and ruined the first day.”  
“You didn’t ruin the first day! How many times do I have to say that?”

Now it was Tetsuro’s turn to sigh. He continued.

“Regardless, it’s up to you. I think you know my stance loud and clear at this point.”

He was… right.

“Doesn’t hurt to ask either way. But… I would like to go. Kenma said it was a walk through the forests here?”

Tetsuro nodded. 

“Yup! Do it every year. It’s a pretty easy walk. Ol’ Nekomata heads it, but I’m not sure about this year because of the new leaders and whatever.”

Kei clenched his jaw. Time to test the waters.

“Is it possible to… take detours? Like, separate from the group.”

He returned his hands to his front. Hopefully others wouldn’t catch on to his nervous habit.

“Oh, yeah. Ken gets tired easily--” A glare from Kenma was shot at Tetsuro at this, “-- so I have a special pit-stop that usually just becomes a picnic. It’s right next to a freshwater stream.”

Tetsuro looked to him and smiled. 

“ …. Wanna come?”

Kei took in a breath he hoped wasn’t as audible as he thought it was. 

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> keiji, matchmaking nymph of the group  
> koutarou, the idiot boyfriend of said nymph who i need to write more actual dialogue for at some point  
> fun fic trivia: i write this in docs then copy-paste and currently the entire thing is about 60 pages. i suspect it will get to be past a 100 by the time im done with it  
> anyway im excited to write cute romantic tension
> 
> thank u for ur continued interest! kudos are super duper appreciated!


	14. cooking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei and the group make stuff.

Kei was very much aware of the fact that he and Tetsuro were on some kind of romantic break. But that didn’t stop him from being in the mindset of “this is a date”.

And it really wasn’t -- they were going with people. Friends. There was no way that could be counted as a date, really. Probably. Maybe. 

Tetsuro, Keiji, and Koutarou had left after plans were finalized -- meet up in the shop once all the lanterns are out. Keiji was the last to leave, and with a wink to boot. That bastard. The dress code, if you could call it that, was a bit more relaxed. Kenma managed to haggle his way out of the clothes from before, saying he’ll cover food prep if they ditch the flowy pants and rope belt. 

So now all four of them -- himself, the idiot lovebirds, and Kenma -- were out and about in the busy open-air bazaar. It was filled to the brim with colorful wares and local farmers shouting out the prices of their produce. It was a bit more than hectic. Children weaved in and out of the pockets of people that surrounded them. A lot of them had a few extra limbs, a tail here and a pair of wings there. Perhaps it was easier for them to do it at a young age?

Kenma looked up at him, then back at the children. 

“The answer is yes, by the way.”

Kei’s gasp was caught in his throat. Damned cats.

“Tetsuro wasn’t able to control when his ears popped out. They’d always come up when he was startled or excited.” 

He gestured to Shouyou’s fluttering wings. His hand was latched onto Tobio’s as he dragged him around to the different stalls.

“Kind of like that.”

Kei hummed, trying not to think about how cute that must’ve been. 

Kenma walked in silence with him for a small bit before perking up at the sight of a stall. A man not much older was standing behind the table laden with fruit baskets. His hair was short like Kei’s, but pitch black. His eyes were wide and much more catlike than any others he’d seen the entire trip. Even his mouth was a shaped a bit like a cat’s. 

Kenma trotted over and nodded to the man. The man nodded back and carefully placed several different fruits into Kenma’s shopping bag. Little bags of candy red apples, fistfuls of strawberries in small stackable cartons, a whole watermelon, and a wicker bowl of cherries covered by a wet paper towel among other things. 

It was a lot of red. 

Kenma thanked the man -- albeit nonverbally -- and continued his journey through the throngs of people. Kei glanced at the stall keeper, who was folding up the money Kenma handed him and slipping it into the little cash box behind a display, before picking up the pace. 

The lovebirds were already way ahead of him. Kenma was talking to an energetic man -- he was Shouyou but taller, essentially -- while picking up various vegetables, inspecting them, then either putting them down or into another shopping bag. Potatoes that still had dirt on them, carrots in bunches of three, all sorts of leafy greens, and everything still had a bit of root on it. 

Kenma nodded his head to the stall keeper. 

“Thanks, Sou.”

The stall keeper -- Sou -- waved and smiled. 

“Bye Kenma!”

It was like looking at Shouyou 2.0. Very disturbing. 

 

They went around like that for a while, weaving through shops and people till Kenma had three full bags of produce. He handed one bag to each of the trio as he stuck the key to the shop into the rusted metal handle. He wiggled it around a bit, turned, then pushed open the door. Dust came flying out, making Shouyou cough. 

Kenma shuffled into the shop and up the stairs, Kei and the idiot duo not far behind him. Kei struggled to keep the bag from slipping out of his hands -- he was given the heaviest bag, for some reason. It had all the fresh meats in it, the smell of iron wafting out of it. Kei scrunched up his nose till the finally made it to the kitchen. He dropped the meat into the bucket already set up in the sink. Kei peered inside the bag and saw small spots of blood that had seeped out from the paper-wrapped meats. Gross. 

“There’s aprons in the closet. There should enough for all of us.”

Kenma’s voice echoed out from the hallway, disappearing into the bathroom. The three looked at each other, bewildered. Kenma reappeared from down the hall in a dirty off-white shirt. It had all sorts of colorful stains, ranging from oil yellow to bright red food coloring. 

“What? You’re helping me cook. There’s no way I’m doing this myself.”

 

“Kenma, where are the band-aids?”

“Did Shouyou cut himself again?”

Kei rolled his eyes as he handed Tobio the damp cardboard box. The number of wet hands that had touched it in the last hour or two had made it soft and... mildly disgusting. Shouyou was sitting in one of the kitchen table chairs, cross-legged and holding his bleeding finger with his other hand. He was just staring at it, either unphased or intrigued -- Kei couldn’t tell. It worried him, regardless -- it was his 5th cut of the day. Maybe they shouldn’t give him the knife anymore. Though, you would think that they would’ve thought of this sooner.

Tobio pulled up a chair next to Shouyou’s and unwrapped another bandaid. He crumpled the wrapper and tossed it onto the table. It joined the other four balls of paper, knocking a few around and one off the table altogether. 

“Gimme.”

Shouyou stuck his finger out for Tobio to tend to. He didn’t even flinch when Tobio pressed on the wound, causing blood to soak through. 

Kei turned his attention back to the matter at hand -- the whisk in his hand and the batter half done in the bowl. He looked high and low for an electric one, but there was none to be found. In the upstairs of an antique store, no less. You would think they would at least have an old one… Regardless, Kei resigned to the fact that he’d have to put some elbow grease into it all. 

His wrist was sore and his elbow screamed whenever he made any movement, but he continued. It was slowly becoming more and more liquified, much to Kei’s satisfaction. He did one last once over to catch all the pockets of leftover flour before stopping completely. He nudged Kenma, who was busy at the stove turning over shreds of meat in a pan -- beef, probably, Kei didn’t bother to ask. 

He took a quick look, nodded, then turned back to his work. Kei moved over to the overhead cabinets to grab the long skinny cake pans. There were three, and he put a wash of olive oil all over the sides and bottom. The pans weren’t nonstick, so he had to make do. He then filled each equally with batter -- about halfway full. The oven had finished heating up a few minutes ago, so it was all ready to be put into the oven. Kei grunted at Kenma to move, who did so, and opened the oven wide open. Heat rushed at his face and Kei scrunched up his face in response.

Carefully, he slipped two of the pans onto the top rack. He returned a beat later with the last pan, placing it on the bottom rack. Kei stood up and practically slammed the oven shut, leaning onto his hand on his lower back and sighing. Kenma moved back in front of the oven, but not before setting the timer to 30 minutes. 

“Thanks,” Kei muttered, before going over to flop onto the seat opposite of Shouyou’s and Tobio’s. Shouyou was still perched on the seat, fiddling with his bandaid, while Tobio had resumed the job of cleaning the dishes and putting finished food into containers. He was spectacularly bad at cooking, but he faired well in all other aspects of the kitchen. 

Kei assumed that it was because he never had to cook a day in his life, but cleaning was part of the job a prince practicing in the art of discipline would have to uptake.

Kei took a deep breath and leaned forward, slumping onto the table. His back was sore and his fingers were sticky with batter and sugar and some other gross, grainy things but he was too lazy to clean it off. Admittedly, he didn’t mind baking. He was good with precise measurements and whatnot, but that actual making of the cakes and the cookies and what have you was tiring and messy. And frankly? He did not like it one bit. 

The sound of running water and clattering dishes soon stopped, and Tobio stalked over from the sink and sunk into his chair. He wiped his wet hand onto the stained green apron wrapped tightly around his waist. The room was pleasantly still -- not quiet, the hissing of the pan and the scraping of plastic against metal was enough to fill the room full of noise -- but the lovebirds were quiet, and Kenma didn’t try to start anything. 

So Kei basked in the silence. Well, until the timer went off -- then he groaned, got up, and then continued to bask in the silence. 

 

“So?”

Kei put his fist to his hip and leaned on the counter with his other hand holding him steady. A bowl of leftover icing sat in front of him, as well as the layered cake that finally cooled. A few pieces were missing -- three, specifically. Kenma hummed, fork already going in for another bite. He chewed a bit before nodding and giving a thumbs up -- fork still in hand, pointed end facing up. Shouyou was… making those noises he made sometimes. All ‘gwah!’ and ‘woah!’, y’know? Kei assumed he liked it. Tobio was silent, but his face seemed pretty at peace. That, and he was still eating cake. 

Kei took it as a success. 

They had about an hour and a half before lanterns went out. The sun had already begun it’s descent down to Earth, setting the sky aflame. The main entrees were already packed, sides too -- large stackable boxes with orange leaves and streaks of color decorated them. It was all tied up at the top with cloth, and then string for security. All that’s left was the cake. Kei waved them away, cakes still in hand, and went to work separating each line of cake pieces and putting them into containers without them toppling.

In all, four long yet shallow boxes were used, all with the same designs as the other ones. The only thing left was to clean up and get changed. Kei handed Tobio the now-empty icing bowl -- he had emptied the rest into a container that now sat in the fridge -- and smiled. 

“Your job.”

Tobio grunted but took the bowl anyway, adding it to the small stack of dirty dishes in the sink. He removed his apron and threw it onto a chair back before following Kenma and Shouyou into the hallway. 

He peeked his head into Shouyou and Tobio’s room. Kenma was standing with his back to the door, and Shouyou was pointing out clothes in the bed. 

“I mean, we’re going to be walking in a forest for a portion of the night so… wear something appropriate for that.”

Great advice, Kenma. Like he didn’t already know that.

Shouyou screwed his face up into what could only be described as intense concentration before snatching a few things off the bed and chucking it into the luggage across the room. Kei let a small laugh erupt from his chest as he made his way to his room next door. 

He was beating those poor little brain cells of his to a pulp. 

Kei already had what he was going to wear in mind -- just pants and a shirt. Maybe his jacket if he was feeling adventurous. It wasn’t a big deal, they were just going out to eat. Well. No, yeah, that’s still technically right. 

Kei shucked off his sweaty shirt and lounge pants, tossing them into his assigned dirty laundry corner. It was starting to pile up -- maybe he should make use of the washer down the hall. He rummaged around in his luggage for a bit before unearthing dark wash jeans and a grey t-shirt with the constellation Corvus on it. He threw it on hastily before slipping on socks and his shoes. 

“Y’know what? I’m bringing the jacket, too.” Kei said, to no one in particular. He grabbed the jacket on the bed and put it on, stuffing his hands in its pockets. He took his phone from its place in his lounge pants and dropped it into the deeps pocket of his jacket before leaving his room.

Kenma was sitting on the couch, typing away at his phone. He was wearing virtually the same as before, just a different shirt. He had his hood over his head, but Kei knew that he was being watched anyway. Tobio arrived soon after, an excited Shouyou in tow. 

Kei put his hands to his hips and blew out a breath. He walked over the table and grabbed one food container in each hand -- the cloth and rope wraps acted as handles, making it easier to carry. He did a once over of the kitchen before turning back to the small group. 

The sky was already completely dark, and lanterns were beginning to go up.

“Ready to go?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for such a late update! ive been busy with con crunch, end of the school year, blah blah blah. its been hectic   
> that being said, im also burnin out a bit? so sorry if updates after this are just as slow as this one was  
> thank you for waiting so long! kudos are appreciated greatly!


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